Puntland State is always judged not by what it says, but by what it does, argues M. A. Hassan Ali
In October 2024, the federal system of Somalia will turn 20. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected in Kenya in October 2004 for a four-year term. He had to resign two months after he had finished his term of office. Conflicts affected almost two-thirds of his term – first the conflict between warlords and the Union of Islamic Courts, followed by the conflict between the Transitional Federal Government forces and the UIC forces, and the two-year war between the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia forces and the TFG-Ethiopian forces.
In 1998, President Ahmed articulated the reasons for advocating a federal system for Somalia after he was elected President of Puntland State of Somalia. That his political convictions outlived him is an example of the power and political consequences of ideas. The argument of Somali federalists is that the post-colonial state in Somalia resulted in a city-state that facilitated the collapse of the state in 1991. If state-building initiatives had paid attention to the development needs of regions in the periphery, Somalia would have been spared state collapse after the United Somali Congress split into factions to control North and South Mogadishu, goes the argument of federalists.
Puntland State of Somalia has been at the forefront of promoting a federal system for Somalia. The founders of Puntland State of Somalia were internally displaced people who fled Mogadishu and found a way to assuage their guilt over neglecting their province of origin and cope with the trauma of displacement. The process of implementing a federal system in Somalia has had a bumpy ride, but the basic structures of the system have been put in place in the form of federal member states with a parliament. The Federal Government of Somalia is not as powerful as the pre-1991 unitary government. The leadership of the federal government wields influence, but it cannot remain in power indefinitely nor can it force amendments to the Draft Constitution through the bicameral legislature without consensus nationwide.
The journey to implement the federal system in Somalia indicates that the ideal of federating regions evolves and brings governance surprises that can only be handled through undogmatic negotiations. Fiscal federalism is one aspect of the federal system in Somalia that can steer the country towards a path of political accountability, an independent legislature and an independent judiciary. Puntland opposes the preferential treatment offered to the Somaliland Administration, which maintains political representation within the federal institutions despite claiming to have unilaterally seceded from Somalia. The “preferential” policy caused the illegal maritime Memorandum of Understanding that Somaliland Administration President Muse Bihi Abdi signed with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia on 1 January 2024.
The role of Puntland State as an advocate of the federal system of Somalia tends to be viewed as grandstanding due to its overly centralised political system. The accusation that Puntland preaches what it does not practice is not unwarranted. If other federal member states of Somalia sign up for a fiscal federalism system to contribute to the tax revenues of the Federal Government of Somalia, the Puntland government will further diminish its role in state-building and undermine the core argument of the federal system advanced by the late President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. That is why Puntland State of Somalia requires a federalist party that promotes the federal system locally. Puntland has political parties, but policy-making powers are still unaccountably exercised by the incumbent government that does not understand the transformation of state-building initiatives in Somalia. Puntland State is always judged not by what it says, but by what it does. The federal system for Somalia could be implemented fairly and efficiently when its ardent supporters implement decentralisation locally and become an example of good governance and political accountability. A Puntland Federalist Party would be able to work towards attaining that goal.
By M. A. Hassan Ali, Strasbourg
