Maslah Mohamed Siad bare , one of the few men that Somalia needs today

In the last few days, a different pace was dominating the usual political sphere of Somalia. A new chapter was slowly, though steadily, unfolding in the political arena of Somalia. Politicians gathered in the capital of Djibouti to witness and partake in the election of a new interim president.The interim presidential seat was once again being contended by dozens of candidates from diverse backgrounds yet share the same common background of being active in the Somali political landscape of the post-civil war. Each one recycling the yet-to-fulfilled words of salvaging Somalia from the abyss of violence, pestilence, famine and above all, the never-ending civil war.Whilst Somalis were getting ready to brush off another remake of theTNG/TFG-style elections whe rein warlords were contesting each other for the main seat, they were caught unaware of the sudden proclamation of certain individuals, namely, Mr. Sharif Ahmed and Mr. Maslah Mohamed Siad Barre.After Mr.Maslah announced his intention to become the next Somali president,many Somalis including non-Somalis were instantly bewildered by this suddende claration. The main question circulating the Somali community was how some one, who has never participated in the political scene for the last 18 years, could ever have a significant chance of grabbing the presidential seat.To adequately answer that question, one needs to know what Mr. Maslah has been engaging in the last 18 years. The son of the former Somali President,Honourable Mohamed Siad Barre, Maslah distanced himself from the current turmoil ravaging Somalia. After the down fall of the central government, Maslah moved to Kenya where he made numerous attempts to restore central rule by supporting any capable Somali that had the ability to reconcile Somalis. He specifically made sure not to provide any support or condemnation to any particular Somalia faction or group since his main loyalty lied with Somalia. After patiently awaiting 18 years, he finally decided that Somalia cannot wait another 18 years for different factions and political groups to reconcile among each other so instead, he proposed to participate in the up coming Djibouti presidential election and create the change himself withthe support of the Somali people.Maslah entered the race as the decided underdog with a post-civil warpolitical experience of mere than two weeks under his belt and yet managed to gather the second most votes in the first two rounds, thereby beating theformer interim prime ministers, Ali Khalif Galeyr, Nur Adde, Ali Gedi, and Hasan Abshir Farah.Maslah surprisingly progressed in to the final round competing with the initial favourite of the race, Sharif Ahmed. . Glued on to their TV-sets,Somalis all over the world were having a nostalgic flash back of the late Somali President Honourable Mohamed Siad Barre. Mr. Maslah, both in appearance and behaviour bears an uncanny resembles to his late father. A my riad of questions were rapidly racing through the minds of the Somalis, all concentrating on what would occur if Mr.Maslah ever became victorious in the election. Can Mr.Maslah re-install the tranquillity and stability of thepre-1991 Somalia? Would he able to follow the foot steps of his late father,by emulating his leadership qualities?Nevertheless, Mr. Maslah managed to become the presidential runner-up by securing 126 votes of the original parliamentary members whilst Mr. Sharif secured the majority of his votes from the newly-added members of the ARS group (200) in addition to 98 votes of the original parliamentary members.The next daunting step awaiting interim president Sharif Ahmed is to appointa competent prime-minister that strongly enjoys the support of both themember of parliaments and the Somalis in general. What better man to fit that description than the presidential runner-up Mr. Maslah Mohamed Siad.Somalis in general have rejected their previous predecessors from Ali Mahdi, Abdulahi Yusuf due the lack of public confidence. It is there for ecrucially imperative that the new interim president Sharif Ahmed does not select another individual that lacks the major criteria of becoming a worth while prime-minister that will be able to engrave lasting peace in the war-stricken Somalia.
Opinion