ROADMAP FOR PUNTLAND DENI PRESIDENCY
By now the President should have in place a major reform package for the State’s suffocating and duplicating bureaucracy. By now the President must have shown his vision as to where he would take Puntland State.
By now the President must have committed himself and his administration to a democratization process as the old clan POWER-SHARING arrangement had hit the dead-end and should be discontinued. By now the President should have inspired the people of Puntland for renewal of hope and revitalization of socio-economic life in this part of Somalia.
By now the President should have cleared the confusion surrounding on how to move forward in terms of cooperation between Puntland and its international partners.
By now the President should have studied the dubious P&O and DP WORLD Bosaso contract and clarified Puntland position on whether to revise the infamous contract or discard it all together. Puntlanders had never seen or shown publicly this suspicious Bosaso Port Deal with the UAE ambitious and aggressive firm, the P&O.
The President needs to hire a team of highly experienced business and civil contract lawyers to look into this contract with P&O. And by the way, does President Deni have seen that contract? Nobody in Puntland, including the previous members of House of Representatives ( the Parliament), who corruptedly approved the deal, had reported seeing it.We see only slow piecemeal steps and occasional visits to various departments in Garowe, but no meaningful announcements or significant undertakings on the part of Deni Administration until to-date. If there is something you know, please share it with us.
By tradition, Puntlanders are extremely patient to wait and give chance to any Puntland incoming administration, but they are anxious this time around to see bold steps and tangible results from President Deni.
Too much time spent on a learning curve indicates the President is not yet ready to govern and would waste the first year of his administration as the 100 days measured in sizing up the President without achieving any major item of his election platform.
Puntlanders’ eyes are on the President to deliver the goods and quickly.And one final thing: leadership doesn’t operate in the dark. It is about openess or transparency and public guideness.
By Ismail Warsame
Former chief of staff
Puntland state of Somalia
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