Mogadishu (PP Comment) — The speech that the President of Somalia, Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, delivered at the Villa Somalia Mosque on Friday is the latest example of how politicians can misuse the pulpit to waste worshippers’ time. President Mohamud accused Somali youths of slothfulness and slack behaviour. He urged the Somali youth to seek employment in the “booming construction firms throughout Somalia.”
In July 2022, two months after he was elected, President Mohamud launched the National Youth Development Initiative. “The initiative aims to get youths involved in decision-making and strengthen the relationship between the government and youths regardless of their professions,” President Mohamud said.
The National Youth Development Initiative did not take off. It was post-election rhetoric and a false dawn. Given the importance Al-Shabaab attaches to “youth recruitment,” and despite youths being the largest section of Somali society that the terrorist group targets for assassinations and suicide bombings, President Mohamud is expected to show empathy and level-headedness.
President Mohamud might have been trying to nip in the bud the so-called Kacdoonka Dhallinyarada (Youth Uprising), fuelled by social media platforms after the Lido Beach attack by Al-shabaab last week.
The youth unemployment rate is high throughout Somalia. The current breed of Somali political leaders has other priorities: lining their pockets with national loot. The apathy of the youth towards how politicians behave might stem from the legacy of the civil war, which keeps youths in clan silos. It is a situation that politicians exploit ruthlessly to deepen the absence of political accountability. The message President Mohamud sends is that only groups like his Damuljadiid clique, with a twenty-plus-year history rooted in the Al-Islah association, can attain political and economic power.
President Mohamud demonised Somali youths for hanging around in cafes due to a lack of opportunities. Corruption in the public sector deprives Somali youths of job opportunities. If a President can stand up in a mosque to deliver a political speech aimed at forestalling possible youth discontent, Somali youths will muster more courage to challenge the politically irresponsible leaders in Somalia.
© Puntland Post, 2024
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