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While some key issues are being addressed, a more daunting task is overcoming
the perpetual lack of commitment to democratic accountability and rule of law of
key state institutions. For instance, the national elected institutions are being
invariably challenged by clan allegiances which sometimes shake the
foundations of the fragile constitutional system. When the highest democratic
institutions such as the Parliament or the Executive are swayed by clan
influences, then in the eyes of public the state is discredited.
And, in its 2012 elections report, Saferworld recommended that, “Political parties should be
encouraged to lift the standard of politics in Somaliland by focusing on issues and policies
rather than clan issues.”
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Overcoming clan dominance in politics to advance a more national agenda entails evolving
from a firmly entrenched and long standing political culture and Somaliland’s sub clan socio-
economic system. One interviewee noted, “The question is how to interject issues, cross-clan
issues.” Developing identities, ideologies, and platforms that cut across clan lines is critical to
Somaliland’s ability to strengthen its multiparty system and realize its goal of transitioning from
a clan-based political system to a more national and democratic one.
On the one hand, identifying cross-class issues is fairly clear-cut (especially if survey research
is available, opportunity three below). As one interviewee noted, “We all need clean water!”
Identifying top issues and developing platforms based on those issues is, at a theoretical level,
relatively straightforward. However, as noted elsewhere, campaign periods when platforms
tend to be finalized also tend to be periods of sub-clan politicking and negotiation, rather than
political party competition, thereby reducing the incentive to focus on platforms and individual
party identities.
As clans are most involved in political party affairs during elections (by fundraising and
providing funded candidates), an important step for political parties is to build a party identity in
the period between elections (as noted under opportunity five below). In the period between
elections, parties can take on projects that advance party ideological or issue interests and
cooperate with civil society organizations to leverage their efforts outside of formal
representative institutions (which are often themselves dominated by clan interests). Doing so
will build the party’s reputation for championing certain issues, which they can carry into the
electoral period.
Programs that support the creation of distinct national party identities and issue-based platforms
depend on political as well as technical assistance. It is important to work with political parties
on strategies to identify core constituencies and priority issues, as well as technical expertise to
develop appropriate policy proposals and responses. International funders can help with both.
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Makokha, Jacinta, and Yussuf Ali.
Somalilanders Speak: Lessons from the November 2012 Local Elections
.
Rep. Saferworld, Apr. 2013. Web. July 2013, p. 18.
