Somalia: The failings of negotiation protocols and the development of corruption

The last few months have been insightful, I have had the opportunity to meet and converse with a number of government officials including some who are my peers from Somalia. Some came with optimism, some looked weary and drained, and some just looked bewildered. Nevertheless the resounding consensus was that the political system was stagnant and fraught with uncertainty. This was to be expected as the last two decades and a half of political turmoil set the present stage.

I took it upon myself to understand why the system was not functioning as envisioned, or was it fulfilling its purpose of intentional design. I also knew that this course of action was going to ruffle few feathers, nevertheless I did not intend on holding back my line of questioning. Either way I believe that this form of inquest is healthy and necessary for the further development of our Neanderthal type of governance, no disrespect intend to the older Homo sapiens.

As always I started with questions concerning the state of Somalia’s relationship with international donors. I prefer to start this way because it gives me an understanding of the kind of person I am engaging with. The reason being such questions will most of the time give you two outcomes; rarely would you get a neutral response. The first would be what I consider the house slave reaction, and I quote “We need the assistance of the international community, this is the only way we can rebuild the country. You young people must help in the lobbying process because we are all in it together.” The official, who I will not name, finished the final part of his statement with a smile. He had delivered his punch line and he was expecting an offer for my services. 

The second outcome would be that which is associated with activists such as myself and what I consider as the cotton picking slave obstinacy “I would rather eat corn all my life than beg the former colonialists” like I said rarely would you get a third response. With this in mind I made a resolution within myself to be objective in matters concerning governance or politics in general.

I continued with my questioning, how many international funding agreements have we signed in the last two decades? I didn’t know the answer nor did I expect him to know it either, but I could offer you a rough estimate based on the figures received by the present and last government. I gave him an example, from 2008 to the 2013 Somalia received $1.6 billion with additional pledges of €650,000 to be received before the end of the current year from the EU alone.

So in my estimation if Somalia received $1.6 billion in 6 years from a single source, and I can safely say there is more than one sources offering funds to Somalia. Then I would probably range the total figure around the $3 billion mark for every half a decade. This is also down to the fact that those offering funds are all competing for influence over this broken but resource rich state.   

At this point the gentlemen sitting across me was getting uncomfortable, his body language was screaming at me to stop. So I took a few minutes agreeing with his earlier statement about how we need the international community. Which is true Somalia does need assistance and I don’t dispute this, I also agree that my generation needs to play an active role.

The point I struggle with is how we can ensure this support will not enslave us in the coming future. I asked him this question trying not to cause him any further discomfort. Not that I was trying to make him uncomfortable in the first place, but I struggle with keeping my passion subdued in such instances.

He agreed that we needed to safeguard against signing agreements without proper procedures; he told me how important it is to raise awareness concerning such matters. Yet I was not satisfied with his answers. The reason being, he is a high ranking official who was in office when the new pact was signed. The treaty I am referring to is called the Cotonou agreement. It covers everything from political alliances, economics and trade cooperation, development and cooperation strategies, financial and technical strategies, and the list is not even halfway. In my opinion this is no small accord and it required specialists from various fields to really sieve through it. Mind you Somalia was not privy to its creation in 2000 and is a late signatory. Nevertheless the new government signed it along with the previous one in order to receive the funds I mentioned. Also by signing this agreement it allows Somalia to seek further funds from the European Development Fund.

After discussing a few other points, the conversation took a personal note. The official asked me what I was currently doing in my line of work. I replied that I was a farmer; he took a few seconds just looking at me then almost collapsed with laughter. He welcomed me to Mogadishu but then immediately stated that I should keep certain opinions to myself or hinder my safety. A few moments later I excused myself and we exchanged fair wells.

Often I have been accused of only discussing the problems of my heritage land without offering viable solutions. The reason for this is no one man or woman can answer the complex equation that Somalia offers and to think so is just pure arrogance. In my writings I prefer to push at the negative points that we can unite around and form a stance against. The issue of international funding is one such point; we cannot sit on the sidelines while corrupt officials continue to line their pockets at the advantage of the donors in the long run. This matter is major catalyst to much of the corruption on the continent and i cant stress this enough.

Even when developed states seek funding from institutions such as the World Bank or the IMF, they give due diligence to the terms of the agreements often taking months if not years to really understand what they are signing. Nothing in this world is free least of all money and we should give priority to the way we attain these funds. A commission of independent specialists ranging from economists, international lawyers, political scientists and any other relevant professions must be tasked with the scrutiny of such agreements. God forbid we end up like certain South American countries, which have been forced to revert to the Barter trade because interest rates from old US agreements have crippled them.

This proposed solution might not be the final answer, yet it is but one mechanism that can aid in better governance and strengthen our negotiating positions. It would stem the cash in exchange for signature culture of the capital. Also it would bring about a new tradition of resource management and have an overall effect on corruption. We must all agree that regardless of the amount of money received; if it does nothing to alleviate the problems of the state then it will only support in compounding them.    

Hamza Egal © copyright2013 all rights reserved.