The Somaliland media has of recent been publishing alarming ultimatums coming from the so-called Consultation Council and Waddani party with UCID adding some half-hearted snorts to Waddani’s trumpets on occasion.
One of the latest is the reported accusation one Saeed Qulumbe submitted to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Mr Saeed in his own words said they submitted – as in court file suits – documents accusing members of the Somaliland government of malfeasance against the Somaliland public – as if the Commonwealth office was, indeed, a court of law.
The people Mr Qulumbe targeted were, according to their statement, the House Speaker of the House of Elders, Hon. Suleiman Mohamoud Adan, Minister for Presidency, Hirsi Ali, Minister for Aviation, Mohamoud Hashi Abdi, the newly-appointed Somaliland Rep in the UAE, Bashe Awil, and, above all, the First Lady Amina Mohamoud Jirdeh.
Strange that all belong to one clan where the first lady is married to a president who is also of that clan!
Mr. Qulumbe in his haste to support his kinsman the leader of Waddani party fabricated the lie of the century. The man committed a very grave felony that can land him in jail.
The media copies this gentleman released to Somali websites and newspapers used a few pictures showing white men and women posing for the picture. The photos led one to believe – as intended – that the people shown were the officers at the UK Home Office who promised Mr. Saeed cooperation.
According to reports surfacing, the man used pictures of colleagues at the SORAG London office, including Gordon Bentley (second picture). Compare it with those in his facebook page.
None of these people work – or ever worked – for the Home Office. The venue shown is not even within the Home Office premises (More detailed story on Burcoonline).
The man heinously exploited a hapless media that would rather print/post, first, than verify facts.
One cannot help but recall the 2004 scandal published on the Sunday Mirror which accused Mr. Qulumbe’s SORAG of ripping off the British tax payer of aid money destined for the Burao General Hospital and the lunatic asylum in the same city.
An English proverb says a thief is a thief whether he steals a diamond or a cucumber.
Bamboozling the public with fabrications for political revenge is not, surely, the same as trying to hoodwink governments and law enforcement officers in a world that values its citizens’ rights very dearly.
One thing is clear, though. If any one is pushing Somaliland to the brink of a Mogadishu-like doom it is Qulumbe and Hassan Guure who are not ashamed of beating clan drums to replenish their long-wilted egos and wallets.
Hana Barkhad
hana.barkhad@gmail.com
