As reported in the media the International Community is putting pressure on the Transitional Government in Somalia to downsize its cabinet. With 39 Ministers, by any standard, the TG has one of the largest cabinets. Somalia is grappling with all sorts of crises and one of them is bloated government. Because bloated government is a serious obstacle to nation building and governing. It makes sense for the TG to downsize its cabinet. It is an irony for a nation such as Somalia with a small population of 10 million to appoint 39 Ministers. It is worth mentioning that China which has the largest population of 1.5 billion has a mere 19 ministries. ^[1] For that reason, it is incumbent on us to suggest to the TG the following:

Revoke the 4.5 plan

The 4.5 plan was responsible for the creation of ineffective governance in Somalia. Since 2000, the 4.5 clan-based plan was used to form three transitional governments in Somalia. The main objective of the 4.5 scheme was to create inclusivity so that no community (clan) was left out. However, the 4.5 plan has been an impediment to effective governance in Somalia. It was also responsible for the creation of some of the largest and exotic cabinets in world.

If you had to be a trawlerman working off Somalia this week, you'd rather be on a French boat. A while back, France decided to put soldiers on board its trawlers to ward off pirate attacks. This morning, it paid off as French marines drove back pirate skiffs in a hail of gunfire. Contrast that with the plight of Spanish fishing boats like the Alakrana, hijacked in the Indian Ocean last week.

Unlike the French government, Spain has refused to put its soldiers on trawlers despite repeated pleas from the commercial fishing sector. Instead, it has urged owners to hire private military contractors to guard them.

The last time I posted here about Somali piracy, I received some comments bemoaning the fact that I hadn't mentioned how western trawlers were plundering Somalia's fisheries. One poster referred to the pirates as ‘sea defenders', rather than villains.

Captain Phillips traded himself as a hostage in exchange for the release of his crew. The ongoing pursuit of Captain Phillips’ captors captured the attention of the American public mainly, it seems, because he was a resident of Vermont. The United States Navy shot three pirates dead in the dramatic rescue operation that saved Phillips from what seemed at times like certain death.

But it left many people wondering where Somalia fit into the world before this story? Somehow it had appeared out of nowhere in the American media. What was this tiny country on the eastern coast of Africa and why were there so many pirates there? The coverage of Somalia was, up until this summer, random at best. When American lives were at risk, however, the state of Somalia gradually worked its way into household, political conversations.

What is behind that makes difficult to have democracy in Somalia?

Democracy is like World market has launches a new export product: democracy. And that product has faced with three

Marketing difficulties:

For the first democratic condition is an activity that is risky business and will limit the smaller countries, rather than the large ones (it is doubtful, for example, that it will work with China).

For the secondly, morally speaking, it is very difficult to assess the democratic performance without reference to so many would be tempted to do, the economic approach (for progressive). We could end up in situations where the push for multi-party system would be the most appropriate way to keep power discredited elite. Several examples in Latin America point in this direction and show the need to have principles rather than processes.

An approach of grassroots initiative, compromise and peaceful order among the masses served well Somaliland over decades. Such wisdom saved it from much of the troubled scenes in the southern parts, but these fortunes may be at end as the political tempers flares up in the streets. If the latest news accounts from Hagias to go by, there is stormy waters ahead for Somaliland’s prospect: a well staged campaign of violent protest, vandalism and misinformation is in full-swing across the board. But the most disturbing of aspect of all is the new waves of denigration campaign against certain segments in the city, namely against people of Awdal origin.

There is also equally disturbing trend of crude negative campaign against anyone perceived of associated with SL’s public personae who are ironically well meaning Isaq groups. Much of the violent campaign is lead by one of the main opposition parties, and as a result, Somaliland entity teeters on the edges of dark abyss right now. In this note, I would like to raise few crucial issues with respect to the current political impasse including state of rampant public character assassination in some quarters, the root cause of the Parliament disruption in relation with the flawed registration process and mystery of the unsolved atrocity that took place few weeks in the Gabiley area.

I know what a fantastic work that many of the Somali aid organizations are doing and want to thank you for your commitment. There are not many who have a long-term engagement in Somalia, as you have. Even fewer that can be as much about issues as you. The Somali aid organizations represents to me something as unusual as sustained idealists.

It is not always food shortages underlying problems of hunger and starvation. Daily food productions in Somalia are capable of supplying the East Africans population. There is enough food to eradicate hunger. So basically it is a matter of allocation policy. It's about to abolish injustice and work towards a fairer distribution of income and assets. Today we see, unfortunately the deepening inequality both between and still more in, the most majority of clans in Somalia. In the poorest parts is often the greatest inequality. Therefore, starving people, despite the presence of food.  

If you only concentrate on the production of food in the country avoids dealing with the underlying problems of deep-seated poverty, poor people's lack of power over their situation and their lives. The fight against hunger can not be separated from the fight against poverty. And poverty is more than lack of food. Being poor are to miss opportunities, suffer from lack of rights and the absence of security. All three of these aspects are fundamental to the long-term fight against hunger and ensuring food safety.

Mention of Somalia conjures images from the film Black Hawk Down or media coverage of pirate attacks. These points of reference, as disturbing as they may be, limit our understanding of Somalia. They obscure the fact that since the country's civil war began in 1991, average Somalis - not outsiders - have paid the highest price. Intolerable conditions created by nearly two decades of conflict and ill-advised international interventions have pushed civilians to take ever more extreme measures, from piracy to militancy to perilous ocean crossings, to escape the war.

In 1991, the family to which two of us belong fled the fighting in Somalia on a boat filled well beyond capacity. We were fortunate enough to find refuge in Kenya. Most have not been so lucky.

Those still trapped in Somalia's shifting war zones have suffered unthinkable depredations and deepening despair. Contrary to prevailing American public opinion, these conditions are not entirely of Somalia's making. International intervention has played a significant role.