• Garissa Town MP says councils would not define the 2022 vote outcome.
• Says should elders insist, then thorough checks should follow to weed out corrupt.
Image: FREDRICK OMONDI
Garissa Township MP Aden Duale has dismissed efforts to lock him out of Northeastern saying such attempts would fail.
The former Majority leader holds that the 2022 election will be different from 2013 and 2017 where the region tested negotiated democracy.
“In 2022, the people have evaluated, assessed and it has come out very clearly that negotiated democracy produces a lot of leaders who are incompetent, not pro-people,” he said.
In an exclusive interview with the Star on Friday, Duale said the system has produced leaders who ended up being involved in corruption, despite it being a serious matter in the Islamic community.
The MP argued that the system would fail as the region’s support would be determined by how a leader navigates the key issues presently affecting Northeastern.
He said the region has suffered schools closure, insecurity, internal communal conflicts, the collapse of schools, serious drought and also “when the census results were doctored”.
Also of concern is that the region lost much in the new revenue sharing formula and during the time the BBI “which was unfair to Northeastern” was brought.
Duale said things won’t be the same as voters saw a majority of the leaders decided to go with their personal interest, of government and ‘scared’ governors who chose to protect their own backyard.
“In all these issues, the community had expected the leadership to rise to the occasion but they never did. This time, you’ll see negotiated democracy might not be as popular as before,” he said.
On the perceived growing popularity of Garissa Governor Ali Korane, Duale said there was nothing of the sort as the county boss is the “most unpopular governor on the ground.”
Duale argued that the principle of negotiated democracy was good but has since “compromised the quality, competency and the capacity of representation.”
“But this doesn’t mean that the clan council should die. Historically, they never used to have the role of deciding political representation. We have those councils to decide on cultural issues. Their main aim was to deal with peace and reconciliation,” the MP said.
He held that across Wajir, Garissa and Mandera counties, there was a growing strong resistance against negotiated democracy.
“It is a good thing but my advice is that even those who would use it if given an opportunity to produce a governor, senator, or woman rep or MP, they should bring the most qualified and the most competent. Don’t bring us the most useless,” Duale said.
HOW IT WORKS
There is a serious consultative forum where professionals, business leaders, former leaders – both in public and political space, women, youth and religious leaders from the community come together and decide to negotiate.
“The principle was very good. The essence was to deny winner-take-it-all. Within the clan matrix, there are bigger clans, smaller and medium ones. Big clans can take all seats.”
“This negotiated principle was to make sure that – since we always have conflicts of water, pasture and even political representation. When devolution came, we said we carry everybody, so even MCA was negotiated,” Duale explained.
He said many leaders have rethought the use of negotiations in the face of complexity in defining political representation.
“You saw leaders like Farah Maalim recently say elders who don’t know the political landscape cannot decide for the community,” Duale said.
He argued that for those from a cosmopolitan constituency like his where nearly all the Somali clans live, the process cannot succeed.
“If I go back to the clan, I will be asked what will happen to the rest of the people. I got over 24,000 votes there, mostly from non-Somalis,” Duale observed.
“Since I became a Leader of Majority, a certain picture was created that I am the Somali leader and speak for the Muslims.
"I cannot purport to speak for Muslim and Somali communities then appear looking for an endorsement from a clan. It would be a contradiction,” he added.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)