In less than two weeks, president Farmaajo’s term will come to an end. In this piece I will reflect on his presidency. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was elected as Somali President in 2017. Farmajo was very popular candidate during the campaign for presidency as he has drawn large support from the youth. The Somali youth played a very pivotal role in Farmajo’s election triumph in 2017. They showed up in large numbers at his rallies; they campaigned him on social media; and later on when the national parliament was convened to cast votes for the country’s next president youth parliamentarians voted for him overwhelmingly. One of the reasons that attracted the youth to Farmajo were the issues that he emphasized on. He campaigned on issues that had such a resonance and particular appeal to the Somali youth: patriotism, restoring sovereignty, fighting Alshabab, ending pervasive corruption, and so on. He has portrayed himself as a savior for our ailing country. His campaign messages were captivating the youth’s collective imaginations as he taped and exploited their feelings towards the bad state of affairs in their country. His messages were simple to understand by large segments of the society as he didn’t talk about grand vision and lofty ideas to govern the country, but simple slogans and easily digested phrases such as sovereignty and patriotism.
The members of the national parliament heard loud and clear the clamor of the public for change; and as a result, voted for Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to be the next president of the Republic on 8th February 2017. It seems that his team had a ready communication strategy to maintain their grass-root support that they have engendered during the campaign when they assumed the presidency. This strategy, if you can call it strategy in the first place, was to use the social media in order prop up Farmajo’s image, specially among the youth, and harass those they deemed that they were not enthusiastic about Farmajo and his rule. Right after his election as the eighth president of Somali Republic, multiple social media pages were created on Facebook and Twitter to reach to the youth. In order to utilize this new tool (SM) for their advantage in a new and unsettling ways, Villa Somalia recruited the most active people on social media. Many dubious accounts were created to attack anyone who criticize the government. These pages circulate mostly one single message as it seems distributed them by a single person with multiple accounts in order to create the impression that a lot of people are involved. These kind of tactics in the social media are known “bots.”
Farmajo has shown from get go that he intends to hang on power no matter what. To do that effectively he and his team developed a new culture that was not the custom: to isolate himself from public scrutiny through the free press. He refused to give interviews or address the public even when there was a national calamities such as the major terrorist attacks in the capital; or when his government rendered a former Somali National Army officer, Abdikarim Sh. Muse, to Ethiopia. These kinds of behavior were odd and counterproductive. Not only they were callous and cavalier attitudes to the feeling and the well-being of Somali people whom he swore an oath to look after their interests, but it was also a calculated political move in order to reduce his level of exposure and hide Farmajo’s inadequacy as public speaker. Deep down he and his team knew that maybe he was not apt to the job or he could be embarrassed if the media scrutinize him in a nationally televised setting. So, they have chosen a total and complete media blackout. This was a new low. All of his predecessors were accessible and were somewhat accountable to the public since they were interacting with the media and forced to answer for their actions and policies. Farmajo was different. He was absent from anywhere that he thought would question him or try to hold him accountable whether it is the parliament, which he emasculated after he got rid of the recalcitrant and independent minded veteran speaker, Mohammed Sh, Osman Jawari. He never availed himself such kinds of public accountability through the free press. He opted not to talk to the public and the media. President Farmajo’s first year coincided with the Gulf crises when Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain cut ties with Qatar. The Somalia government has adopted a neutral position while some federal member states sided with other side, accusing the government it has sided with Qatar. The rift between the federal government and member states widened when FMS formed Council of Interstate Cooperation and suspended their ties with the federal government. Then Farmaajo started a campaign to overthrow the FMS presidents and replace them with loyalists. He succeeded to replace Xaaf of Galmudug, Sharif Hassan of South West and Waare of Hiirshabeelle. President Ahmed Madobe of Jubbland is the only surviving regional head from Farmajo’s onslaught and Jubbaland paid dearly for refusing to yield Farmajo’s unconstitutional demands of total and undivided personal loyalty. Madobe survived this in large part due to Kenya’s support. This purge, if you will, gave Farmajo an opportunity to taint the image of federalism as a balkanization of the country and consolidate power. The Villa Somalia also tried to destabilize Puntland by organizing protests in major cities and turning the citizens against their government. They also sent money to some development committees,bypassing the government channels in order to undermine the Puntland’s governmental authority and sow division and mistrust among the Putlanders.
They smartly exploited the clan grievances that is perennial among Somalis in order to pressure FMS leaders. The first experiment of this kind of unsavory tactic was in Galmudug when they turned the former vice president who hailed from the president’s clan and the speaker of the assembly who is a member of the former prime minster’s clan against the Galmudug president, Mr. Haaf.They did the same thing in Puntland during president Gaas’s reign. They used vice president Abdihakim Amaey (Who was later awarded to ambassadorial job in Ethiopia) to do their bidding. Once again, they utilized clan divisions and secured the support of some clans who felt that they have been sidelined by the larger clans.
Farmaajo masters the art of diversionary crisis. Whenever NN(Life and Peace) faces a problem, he use trolls to distract the people from government misdeeds. The Farmajo’s government allocates budget for these trolls on the social media on its behalf. These trolls or what Abdirahman A.Warsame called CBB(Cayayaanka Baraha Bulshada)not only harass those in the opposition and anybody they deem anti-NN or Farmajo; they also try to spread an imaginary and unfounded good news about development projects and major undertaking that Farmajo government is doing or building. It is a Soviet scale propaganda machine in the age of social media. “It’s the first time” became their slogan. They try to manipulate the public discourse with disinformation and fake accounts. They deploy trolls on Facebook and Twitter constantly. When the people see, they would believe that the government has many supporters. They monitor all the accounts of opposition leaders. They claim exclusive rights of patriotism and stamped others as “traitors”. To be fair the government did some small-scale projects by repairing and restoring some buildings and monuments in the capital that were destroyed in the Civil War such as the National Theatre, the Sayyid Mohammed’s statue and the Mogadishu Stadium. These modicum and symbolic gesture was billed nothing less as restoring the state itself while the government doesn’t give priority to the bigger issues like security, social services, and job creation. Finally, Farmajo’s grandiosity his dictatorial tendencies is something that needs to be touched upon. Just like old military dictatorship days, the portrait of the president hangs on everywhere. His paid social media trolls sing his praise and personal glory on social media. You will be forgiven if this reminds you, “Guulwade Siyaad Aabihii Garashada Gayigayagow!” Farmajo’s cult of personality has become a vivid and disturbing reminder of not so good old days. His Mundus Operandi is either with us or against us, my way or the highway is off-putting, to say the least. His stormy tenure will be known to what it lacks: compromise and consensus, which is detrimental to the unity of the country.
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