MOGADISHU, Somalia – The race to expand the democratization space in Somalia was markedly strengthened on Wednesday following the recent launch of a political party that would allow people to express their wishes and interests as planned in the country’s interim constitution.
Somalia has struggled to install discipline in its key institutions for three decades after Siad Barre’s ouster, but recent developments give at least a glimmer of hope to a country also bedeviled with clan clashes and the Al-Shabaab threat. .
Dhulka Hooyo literally translates to “motherland” the latest celebration in the Horn of Africa after its launch in Mogadishu. The party is led by Abdirahman Moallim Ahmed alias Ablaal, a famous academic and founder of the Schools Association for Formal Education [SAFE] in Somalia.
It is in these private schools that he has built his name and his career almost making him a trademark in the education sector. The country has struggled to stigmatize authority in formal education due to political upheavals and civil war, which has almost made almost public departments dysfunctional.
Abdirahman Moallim is also a famous civil society member who is credited for pushing for the adoption of more human rights rules in the country. The party was launched only a month before the country’s election, but the model does not allow the party to directly field candidates.
Among those present were intellectuals, academics, civil society and members of the business community who well received the inauguration of the Dhulka Hooyo party. All speakers praised the holders for “thinking about the future of Somalia” in a ceremony that lasted for several hours.
Ablaal was the backbone of special education after the collapse of the central government in the 1990s. The Motherland Party also includes scholars, intellectuals and sections of the Somali youth movement.
Prominent religious scholar Sheikh Abdi Haye was honored to give the first speech at the opening of the party. The party is now beginning to roll out the registration of new members, but it is not clear whether it will field a presidential candidate in the very long-awaited election to be held in February 2021.
“Despite all the political parties we currently have, we need this party to show us their commitment to changing Somalia to a better standard of living,” said Suldan Ahmed, one of the founding members who called on Somalis to to join the party by registering in numbers. .
“We just do not need to have political parties without agendas, and we hope that this party gives the communities they serve” Waxqabad “; not that they more than usual, but what our people deserve,” added Abdilatif Abdi Hirsi, another founding member of the party, which could change the country’s dynamics.
The party will join the opposition heavyweights led by Wadajir from Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame and the Forum of National Parties [FNP], which is a conglomerate consisting of six opposition parties. The latter is led by former Presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.
AXADLETM
