The Mayor who burned his candle at both ends

Strange but true story was reported last Saturday by Awdalpress. The story was the first of its kind in Somaliland. Even the head line was mind boggling let alone the whole story. For sure now, Security is getting out of hand in the Republic and especially for the Awdalites and the government has no power to protect its citizens.

I think it is fair to say that it is time for the Awdalites to slaughter black goats to ward off "evil eyes" and protect us from "the camel boys' evil”. Well, at least that is what the Pakistani President is doing to protect himself from the Talibans.

Check this out;

"Maayarka Boorama oo si Khiyaamo ah loogu dhacay Hargeysa iyo Boolis ku lug lahaa-Waa yaab...? Awdalpress

Amazing! Isn't it? This is the kind of stories we only see in the movies, specially the old Wild West cowboys' movies. Only this time, it is true and believe it or not as reported the drama happened in Hargeisa. Yes I said Hargeisa not California - a real drama that captured the talk of all the people in Somaliland. Not by the Wild West cowboys, but by the wild camel boys of Hargeisa.

The operation was extremely successful. Thanks to Abu-sufyan academy - Suleiman Gaal's institute of robbery where robbing and slaughtering Awdalites etc are in the curriculum.

Dear reader, read the headlines again, it is the mayor of Borama who is involved in the drama. Not an ordinary citizen. When I first read the headlines, I was expecting a burglary kind of a thing - a break-in of his house or office but never occurred to me that such a robbing have taken place in a hotel in the middle of the capital of Somaliland.

Haad ba haad kici, Somaliland budhcad baa ka dilaacday oo waa la is dhacayaa!!!

My dear reader, I am sure that you can see a lot of things in the headline. For me, I can see nothing good but desperation, frustration, ignorance, arrogance, primitiveness, lack of rule of law, doqoniimo, fuleynimo, dowlad la'aan, ciyaalo suuqnimo, kalsooni la'aan, shisheeye ka baq, and a total failure of the Somaliland system of security and government.

Can you imagine what has happened in the hotel room and what was going on in the mayor's mind while being robbed? Well, hard to imagine and as obvious no body knows but the mayor and the robbers. Let us dramatize a little of what seems to have happened.

This is not what exactly happened in the hotel room but a dramatization of what seems might have taken place.

First and foremost, visualize the mayor with a bag full of Awdal's revenues (Thousands of dollars).

Now visualize four men in the hotel room waiting for the mayor to show up. After a long wait, one of the robbers sneaks through the window and sees the mayor coming with a big black bag. He notifies the other robbers. Two robbers with dark sun glasses take positions at the back of the room and the other one takes position in the middle of the room. The door keeper who saw the mayor coming gets ready to open the door.

The mayor expecting a good day's pay with smiles in his face knocked the door. The door man (robber) opens the door and salutes the mayor with a smile. The mayor moves forward into the room and immediately sees the two robberies at the back of the room with the black sun glasses and pistols drawn out.

The mayor smells danger. Fears for his life and his heart began bouncing his chest - bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum. O-ow, he whispers to himself. My god, what have I done? A flash of the dadqalato went through his head. He decided to wait for the event and keep quite in the mean time.

The door man grabs and immediately opens the bag. With surprise, he declared to the others;

"Dhega ... Walee wuu camiranyahay!!! Waar mayor, sowdigan soo buuxiyay. Wixiiba maad soo qaaday? Miyaanad waxbaba uga iman kuwaad ka ahayd masuulka??”

The robbers with the black sun glasses with cigarettes in their mouths and tilting their lips a little to the right took steps forward to have a look at the bag. Again with surprise, one of them claimed the victory and said;

"qodhiin iyo xeradiin miyaanan idiin sheegin in wax la dhaco reer Awdal ugu dhib yaryihiin?"

The other with the sun glass approved and said;

“Walee ina dhagaxow fariid baa tahay oo waataqaan Gadabiirsi...Yaa.. Gow"

Now visualize the mayor in a corner and hearing all these words. The other robber, the one in the middle of the room who happened to be a singer (fanaan) took a sneak and saw the bag full of the green stuff.

“Waaar inaga hubiya inayna ahyan warqadihii Somaliland?” He shouted and again with the famous cheek tilting to the right of the camel boys.

“Waaar miyaanad kala aqoon doolarka iyo warqadahaSomaliland??? Waaar waa doolarkii oo qadhqadhaya.” assures one of the robbers.

The singer couldn't restrain, snapping his fingers, he began singing (the famous liilalow); “lii lalow, lii lalow, lii la low ..Lacagtii Awdal baa --- HAA—dhib yaraan ku helee --HAA—ninka bada ku dhacaaya ee maraakiibta dhacaaya maxaad ka taqaan... HAHA.” Every body now joined the singer and they all sang along ...li lalow lii la low.....

The mayor still in the small corner waiting for the end could not say a word. After a good ten minutes time of patting each other and kissing the dollars, they stopped singing and the door man now with his lips wide open and tilted to right began talking to the mayor;

"Waar mayor, gow, show ileen lacagta la waayayba idinkay ku dambaysay...Yaa... haye... Waar nin fiican baa tahay oo amarka si fiican u qaatee waxba ku qali mayno reer Gabilay baa wax qalee waanuku siidayn ee nabaday".

The others didn't give a damn. They just grabbed the bag and hit the road and since the mayor is no where to be seen.

Awdalpress tried to contact and reported;

“Maayarka ilaa hada lagama hayo wax war ah oo ku saabsan arrintan ku dhacday inkastoo aanu dhawr jeer isku daynay inaanu la xidhiidhno laakii waxa uu naga qaban waayay telefoonkiisii...”Awdalpress

I don't blame him. Silence is the best policy. Every fool would have done the same. Waa gartii inuu ciilkiisa is qariyo. Muxuu ku hadli lacagtii dadwaynaha ayuu ceel ku ridee. Miyuu baabuur uun usiiyo qashinka magaalada lagaga qaado amma ?ambulance?dadka loogu adeego. Maanta wax badan bay tari lahayd lacagtaasi dadka abaaruhu hayaan ee shalay shaaca uu ka qaaday ku xigeenkiisu.

As reported the mayor received a call from hell and chose to follow the call to hell. Little did he know that the call would lead to an unexpected direction and change his life. That is what you get when you cheat your people. I think there should be an inquiry of how things went wrong and to dig the story to the bottom.

The Somali pirates (budhcad badeed) are making millions hijacking ships and the camel boys are robbing Awdalites making hundreds instead. One wonders why the ?budhcad-Awdaleedku? doesn’t begin the piracy business along the Berbera sea coast and make millions.

Well the answer is obvious. First the camel boys don’t know how to swim. Secondly, they are known to have no bravery traits of going out to the high seas and face the dangers of hijacking foreign ships. Thirdly the camel boys specialize in urban robbery. After all, why should they bother going out of their familiar zone while they can just dial a number and fulfill any robbing mission in a minute.

The story has been a house hold for about a week now, all I want to say to the mayor is:

This is an unfortunate incident, however, it exposed other problems in regards to trusting authorities that would leave a permanent scar on the residents of Borama and therefore, I would advice you Mr. Mayor to just let it go as you were let go by the bandits and resign.

The smallest behaviors can often cause the biggest damage to those you govern and this incident is surely one of them. For what you have done, it would be very hard for you to focus on the job. Therefore, put your self at ease and resign.

As is obvious, there is a wall separating you from the residents of Borama city. This wall was created by you to protect you from the unknown but it has become clear that the wall you built lead you to the unknown. Mr. Mayor it is time to damage the wall itself and try to build another one that protects you and the residents together from the unknown. In the mean time please resign and put the minds of the people in rest and peace.

I have read a lot of articles about you. I know that you have planted some professional seed that have started to grow. But Mr. Mayor you were not careful with the fertilizer. Don't you think it is time for you to redo the planting and being careful about the fertilizer? Please do so. In the mean time rest your mind and resign.

I know that you feel sorry for your self, you are right, you have missed out a fabulous opportunity that was right at your finger tips ? the trust of the people ? But you can earn the trust of the people in Borama again. Please start doing so and resign in the mean time.

You have been burning the candle at both ends and you've burned it out. Please take a break and resign. But remember next time to burn it only one side.

Mr. mayor, the camel boys have scored an unexpected goal out of you. That is OK, but next time when making choices, be sure they are yours and not the desires of others. But now I know that you are feeling stuck, I urge you to liberate your self by adopting to the situation and working towards a new beginning. In the mean time please do yourself a favor and resign.

It obvious that Somaliland is in a mess. Security must be the presidents priority. Security is bleak and all eyes of the budhcad-Awdaleedku are on Awdal. I think it is time for Awdal to stock up guns to protect their wealth. Awdalites are all in line to be robbed sooner or later. We need to protect what is left for us.

My dear reader, can you guess who is next in line and robbers are planning for? I think I know. Let me give you a hint:

Boqortooyadaada budhcad baa ka dilaacday oo waa la isdhacayaa gaar ahaan hadii aad kasoo jeedo Awdal. Adigana waa lagu gaadayaa waanad garanayne. Mudanow hadii aad guntiga inyar uun wax ku hayso, boholihii Qunujeed ha iloobine ku dam sii....

Suleiman Abdi Dugsiye