Garowe (PP Editorial) — Yesterday at the Puntland Development Research Center (PDRC) in Garowe, Abdi Farah Said ‘Juha’, the Interior Minister of Puntland State of Somalia, summed up his assessment of the political situation in Somalia. “Somalia is now divided along three lines: Secessionists, Federalists/Confederalists and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’ s winner-takes-all system.” For Juha, federalism and a confederal system are interchangeable.
In 2006, Dr Ali Abdirahman Hersi, a historian who hails from what is now known as Puntland State of Somalia, argued that the federal system did not suit Somalia. “Most likely, the only thing that will result from the plan to make Somalia federal is the break-up of the country into several clan-based, exclusive and economically non-viable units, and the creation of these clan enclaves will, in all likelihood, only exacerbate the clan hostilities that the civil war has generated,” argued Dr Hersi.
After 21 years of experimentation with a federal system in Somalia, the outcome has not been as dire as Dr Hersi predicted, nor has the federal system in Somalia resulted in remarkable decentralisation at central government and federal member state levels.
Puntland State, the promoter of a federal system in Somalia, claims to have been committed to practising it since 1998, but it is still the most centralised federal member state, where the incumbent president grapples with a set of problems he inherited from his predecessor in addition to problems he has created after trying to reform the system without building the consensus necessary to attain politically transformative goals such as constitutional amendments and the introduction of a multiparty system.
Yesterday, the Vice President of Puntland State, Ilyas Lugator, accused the Federal Government of Somalia of withholding funds for Puntland State. In 2023, Puntland State cut ties with the Federal Government of Somalia and claimed it would act as a quasi-independent state. This decision, still in place, has isolated Puntland from the ongoing state-building initiatives in Somalia. It gave the Federal Government of Somalia a political blank cheque to control the bicameral legislature.
Puntland State has its own system of winner-takes-all. Upon returning to Garowe last week, the former Finance Minister of Puntland, Hassan Shire Abgaal, compared and contrasted the leadership styles of the President of Puntland Said Abdullahi Deni and the President of the Federal republic of Somalia Dr Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
“To the opponents of the President of Somalia I would like to say: you will be coming to Garowe to meet a president who caused the death of thirty-five persons over controversial constitutional amendments, and you come from Mogadishu where the President has made concessions on the amendments to the Provisional Constitution.”
Can PDRC invite Hassan Shire Abgaal to present his case on the alleged isolation of Puntland State under the leadership of President Said Abdullahi Deni?
© Puntland Post, 2025