- He wears his signature collarless white shirt as a symbol of what he sees as the unfinished objective to reclaim his dignity and freedom
- The Sultan, for example, talked about the persistent clannism, which he says is a major hurdle in establishing a Pan-Somali identity and possibly even a homeland.
Few dedications are as refreshing and instructive as drinking from the fountain of wisdom of the old.
Such was the intellectual nutriment that I absorbed when I recently viewed two enlightening local media interviews of Sultan Dekow Maalim Sanbul. He is a revered Somali elder and cultural leader from the Abduak clan in Garissa county who comes from a long line of community sultans.
Sultan Dekow still wonderfully and expectantly makes a case for his Pan-Somali vision in the face of restraining colonial boundaries and intense and at times bloody clan-based fragmentations.
Aside from his traditional sarongs, the Sultan, now an octogenarian, wears his signature collarless white shirt as a symbol of what he sees as the unfinished objective to reclaim his dignity and freedom as a Somali man from the white colonialists.
The Sultan explained that Africans, including those who collaborated with the white man, were not allowed to wear collared shirts during the colonial era.
He recalled that he was detained in Manyani merely for being a Somali and was forced by his jailors to change his sartorial. That experience has influenced his choice to keep the collarless shirt to this day. Sultan Dekow also recalled his detention in an outpost 15km from Garissa town on allegation of insulting Her Majesty the Queen of England.
His sunset years are filled with disappointment over the corruption of the personality of Somalis and their leadership. The Sultan, for example, talked about the persistent clannism, which he says is a major hurdle in establishing a Pan-Somali identity and possibly even a homeland.
He noted that ethnic unanimity can be reached if and when Somalis subscribe to a strong and accommodating tribal unity that shuns the falsehearted clan superiority and inferiority notions such as the now formal 4:5 clan ratio system of distribution of political power in Somalia.
The Sultan said most Somali politicians, including those in Kenya, are materialistic and have traded their dignity and community interests for selfish monetary gain.
This is why he takes no pride in the frequently hyped individual Somali success stories in politics and business, saying these have no value to the wider community which is still struggling as a minority.
He also shared his disquiet over the failing social values and the misuse of social media by Somali youths.
Sociopolitical commentator