Saturday, October 27, 2012

Waa illaa goorma kubbadan sharabaadka ahi?



Waa illaa goorma kubbaddan sharabaadka ahi?: By: Prof. Abdi Ali Jama.

Innagu waxaynu u haysanaa in aynu ciyaarayno kubbad hagaagsan, laakiin aniga waxay ila tahay in aynu dheelayno kubbad sharabaad ah. Waagii aanu dhallaanka  yar yar ee soo koraya  ahayn umaanu nasiib badnayn sida ubadka maanta nool ee sida sahlan u heli kara kubbad raqiis ah oo ay ku ciyaari karaan. Sidaadarteed, waxay dantu nagu qasbi jirtay in aanu farsamaysanno kubbad ka samaysan sharaabaad, oo  lagu cabbeeyay walxo kala duwan. Laakiin ujeedadu waxay ahayd uun inaanu ku ciyaaro, may jirin ujeeddo kale oo sidaa u sii ridan inkastoo goolal lakala dhalin jiray.

Tan iyo intii aynu calanka qaadanay 1960kii, waxad mooddaa inaynu ciyaarayno kubbaddaas sharabaadka ah. Haddaba waxa is weydiin leh goormaynu  u gudbaynaa kubaddii caadiga ahayd ee ujeeddada lahayd ee istaraatiyadda iyo shuruucda lahayd. Annagu markii aanu kornay waxanu u gudubanay kubbadii hagaagsanayd. Si kastaba ha ahaatee,  ma diidani in aynu ku bilawno kubbadda sharabaadka ah, laakiin waxaa wax lala yaabo ah rag waawayn—dumarku awalba kubbada iyo siyaasadda midna may ciyaari jirine—oo kubbad sharabaad ah ku ciyaaraya hadh iyo habeen oo aan ka daalayn,  kana dallacayn.

Immika ayaa sidii  ugu weyneyd loogu saftay kubbadii sharabaadka ahayd. Waa doorashada golaha degaanka oo sida xisbiyadu ugula soo baxayaan musharaxa qabiilka ay I xasuusisay sidii labada hoggaamiye ee caruurtu u cugan jireen ciyaartoyga mid walba kooxdiisa u ciyaaraya. Alla astaqfurallah!!! Taas baa caddaaladda iyo runta uga dhawayd. Haa waayo? Wuxu ku soo xulan jiray aqoon iyo garasho uu u leeyahay inanka uu rabo inuu kooxdiisa u dheelo, halka kuwan xisbiyadu ay iska qaadanayaan qof reer hebel u soo duuduubeen oo aanay waxba ka aqoon,  ama waabay yaqaannaan laakiin arrinku waa awrka aan isku kacsano oo meesha qiyaastii digo iyo danbas baa la kala iibsanayaa!!!!

Taasi waa xulashadii iyo doorashadii, ee waxa igaga sii daran halka ay u socdaan oo aan aan xogogaal u ahay  sida xaalkeedu yahay iyo  in aanay maanta u baahnayn kooxo kubbad sharabaad ah ku ciyaara. Waa meel ay dishootay kubbadda caruurta ee aynu ka hadlaynaa.  Tusaale ahaan, gole degaan oo aan ka mid ahay ayaa loo doortay Hargeysa dabayaaqadii sannadkii 2002. Maayar iyo maayar xigeen ayaanu annaguna iska sii dhex dooranay.  Intayada kale  ayaa laga rabay in aanu ka diidno in ay meesha ku ciyaaraan kubbadda caruurta, laakin golaha laftiisii ayaa ka mid noqday kooxihii ciyaarayay kubbada sharabadka ah.  Haddii aad isku daydo inaad wax u sheegto ama u caqli celiso waxa ka dhacday wixii miyir qababa la hadal. Waayo, akhriste,  arrintu ma aha meel soke  ee waa sida qofku u fikirayo iyo waxa u qiimeynayo(values and attitude). Faan weynaa!!!! ma adigaa ka joojin kara nin u arka inuu helay fursaddii cimrigiisa oo aan malaha dib usoo marayn.

Mar mar baan is idhaa malaha waxa roon in aynaan is daalin oo aynu iska dooranno madaxweyne iyo maayarro kaliya mar haddii aynaan dheelayn ciyaarta runta ah,  taas oo ah marka golayaasha degaanka iyo barlammanku miisaankii loo baahnaa leeyihiin; waa marka ay qaadan karaan doorka siidhiwalaha iyo calanwalaha, taasoo ciyaarta ka dhigaysa mid nadiif ah oo sharciyo leh, ujeeddo iyo ka jeeddana leh.  Waa marka uu ogyahay ka ciyaaraya in uu jiro siidhiwale siinaya huruud ama casaan haddii uu ciyaarta si fiican oo hufan u dheeliwaayo.
Prof. Abdi Ali Jama
Profabdiali.blogspot.com



Warqad furan oo ku socota Wasiirka Qorshaynta.



Warqad furan oo ku socota Wasiirka Qorshaynta iyo lacagta lagu soo rogayo qurbajooga. By: Dhaqaalayahan: Abdi Ali Jama.

Salaan ka bacdi, waxa aan holladay qalinka si aan waxooga talooyin iyo iftiimin ah uga soo jeediyo qorshaha qurba jooga  laga rabo in ay bixiyaan lacag yar oo dheeraad ah,  markasta oo ay xawaalad soo dirayaan. Qorshahaas wuxu u baahan yahay in laga baaraandego oo aynu lafagurno sida uu u hirgalayo iyo saamaynta taban ama togan ee uu ku yeelanayo dhinacyada uu khuseeyo.

Waxa jira saddex dhinac oo aasaas u ah hirgalinta mashruucan, kuwaasoo ah xawaaladaha, dawladda iyo muwaadiniinta lacagta bixinaya.  Anigu waxan qabaa in arrintani ay tahay fikrad qurux badan laakiin gidaarka waaqaca madaxa ku dhufan doonta marka la is yidhaa fuliya. Bal aan mid mid u soo qaadanno saddexda dhinac ee mashruucani taabanayo.

Dawladda:
Haddiiba qurbajoogu u hogaansamo mashruucan,  dawladdu ma laha awood farsamo oo ay ku xisaabin karto lacagta ay qubojoogu soo dhigeen. Tani waxay la mid tahay cashuurta iibka ee lagu soo rogay illaa hoteelada cuntada taasoo wasaaradda maaliyaduu aanay haysan farsamo iyo hannaan ay kula xisaabtanto meheradaha, taasina waxay keentaa in qofkii muwaadinka ahaa laga qaado lacagtii, isla markaana aanay lacagtaasi wada gaadhin qasnadda dawladda. Taasina waxay ka dhigan tahay tiiyoo meheradaha loo fasaxay in ay baadhaan jeebadaha muwadiniiinta marka horeba ka dakhli  hooseeyay kuwa meheradaha leh ee ladan(negative impact on income distribution)

Shirkadaha xawaaladaha.
Dhinaca labaad ee arrintani khusayso waa xawaaladaha, kuwaasoo dawladda u qabanaya lacagta. Way adkaan doontaa in ay ina siiyaan macluumaad sax ah oo lagu ogaado lacagtii la soo diray, waayo waxay ka baqanayaan in la ogaado xaddiga  lacagta ay soo xawilaan taasoo sidaynu ognahay immikaba dawladdu dhibaato kala kulanto inay ogaato tirada lacagta dhabta ah ee ay soo xawilaan xawaaladuhu,  si looga qaado cashuurta loo yaqaan cashurrta daqliga(income tax). Haddi ay inoo sheegaan xaddiga saxda ah ee lacagta ay dawladda u soo direen qurba joogu marka mashruucani hirgalo, waxay ka baqanayaan in aynu xisaabin karno lacagta guud ee ay soo xawileen dabdeedna ay halkaa ku dhammato dhibatadii kala haysatay iyaga iyo wasaaradda maaliyadda.  Haddii boqol dollar oo kasta qofka qurba jooga ahi soo raaciyo hal dollar oo kaliya, oo aynu ogaano  wadarta lacagtaas, waxa si sahlan loo xisaabin karaa lacagta guud ahaan xawaaladduhu soo xawileen.  Shirkadaha xawaaladuhuna ma aha qaar intaa aan fahmayn,  sidaa darteed waxan qabaa in aanay xaggooda ka suuragalayn in ay inoo sheegaan xaddiga saxda ah ee lacagta qaadhaanka ah ee la soo diray. Haddii ay sidaasi dhacdana, waxay noqonaysaa in aynu  iyaga marti uga noqonno inta lacag qurbo- joogu dawladda u soo direen, si la mid ah sidii awalba w.maaliyaddu ugu qasbanayd in ay la xaajooto xawaaladaha si ay uga qaaddo cashuurta.

Muwaadiniinta.
Ugu danbayntii dhinaca saddexaad ee mashruucani  khuseeyo waa muwaadinka taasoo arrintani ay keenayso saamayn aan fiincayn oo caddaalad darro ku ah muwadiniinta lacagta soo diraya,  maadaama lacagtu ay ka imanayso dad u badan danyar oo qurbaha  jooga,  isla markaan ay ku dhacayso shirkado xawaalado oo marka horeba ladnaa ama si kale haddii aynu u dhigno,  maadaama lacagtu ka imanayso dad fara badan oo baahsan isla markaana ay ku soo dhacayso  gacmo tiro yar oo ah mulkilayaasha xawaaladaha taasi waxay keenaysaa in la sii kala fogaado xagga qeybsiga dakhliga(inequality gets worse by the project).  Bal ka warran haddii aniga immika qof kasta oo muwaadin ahi ii soo diro hal dollar, saw daqiiqad ku  taajiri maayo!!!! Waxaba aan soo jeedin lahaa inta aynu wan weyn subag ku shubayno, in aynu isla qaadanno mashruuc aynu maalinba muwaadin inaga mid ah aynu taajirino; aan waliba codsigayga raacsadee, aniga ha la  iigu horreysiiyo sacadutul wasiir!!!!!!!!!!

Sidaa darteed waxan ku soo koobayaa talo aan la ruugin waa lagu rafaadaa,  ee aynu isaga nimaadno marka hawlaha ceynkaas oo kale ah la galayo, waayo ma aha dadka aan xilka haynin in ay u fekeraan in laga xigo talada waddanka, kuwa talada hayaana ay is xigsiiyaan talada. Waxan qabaa in arrin walba cidda u ehelka ah ee aqoonta la bidayo ay isaga yimaaddaan oo ay lafaguraan inta aan laga dhigin sharci ku soo baxa amar dawladeed oo aan markaas waxba laga odhan Karin.

W//Q: Prof. Abdi Ali Jama.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

by the state for the state



 by the state for the state: by Prof. Abdi Ali Jama.

When adopting free market economy, Government intervention is justified primarily for three reasons:
1-smooth working of the economy : Individuals as well as private enterprises should be reassured that their private  properties, wealth and rights are immune from any violation or misappropriation so that economic system would function smoothly and investment both local and foreign would pour into the economy creating employment and hence would raise the standard of living of citizens.
2-Government is also required to intervene or act whenever market fails to work efficiently; for instance when there is monopoly practices or asymmetric information or externality or severe recession. In these cases government must act or respond by addressing the situation with introduction of new law or regulation to restore efficiency in cases of monopoly and externality or respond by increasing public investment in the case of recession or stagnation.
3- lastly but not least,  government is not only required to intervene but should lead the process of utilization of natural resources for two main reasons: natural resources are not private property. secondly, natural monopoly of these resources would entail heavy regulation from the side of government even if privatized.   

We have been hearing nowadays that two groups are having conflict as to who would launch Berbera Cement factory. I wonder why the two groups are getting their wires crossed as if though there were no government or parliment.  Why did the government provide two permissions to both groups in the first place? has law of natural resource been put in place? If yes, why all this mess and confusion. If no, the government should not have given the permission to neither group before introducing the law of natural resources and get passed by the parliament.

Resorting to traditional elders in resolving such issues is not a good step towards a progressive modern state where economic initiative like Berbera cement are conducted within the framework of legislations, and in cases of conflict both government and citizens refer to judicial system to resolve any dispute. I really feel pity for seeing tribal heads involved in resolving Berbera cement factory for the implications that this might have on the process of moving towards becoming modern state where rule of law prevails not traditional customs.

As for the question,  who did create the vacuum in the first place?  The answer is simple: policy makers. They should have prepared and put a law of utilization of all natural resource in place; not only Berbera cement. What would happen if  we stumble upon oil fields tomorrow? Shall we involve Sultans and chiefs to decide when, who and when to extract the oil? If yes, why should we, as Somaliland tax payers, pay the salaries of around 200 MPs (Gurtida iyo barlamanka). It is really, really, really confusing and frustrating experience.

In the case of Berbera cement factory,  state leadership is required because the ownership of the resource is not private property in the first place, therefore, privatization of such crucial natural resource would require heavy regulation; issuing a permission to group A or group B is not enough. However, in our situation where government has not the capacity to provide the legal procedure that such privatization would entail, I would suggest not to privatize the project. On contrary,  The government should run the cement factory on its own. Full stop!!!!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Policy makers, be aware




 Policy makers, be aware; By: Prof. Abdi Ali Jama.
The sphere of inordinately voracious traditional leaders is continuously increasing.  Their role was traditionally confined to traditional insurances for murder and non murder incidents between clans and families. They also worked as catalyst in mobilizing resources for SNM armed struggle against Siad Barre regime. Again, we used them in demobilizing tribal militia when we were forming the nascent government of Somali-land. However, as visionary leaders, we should have planned earlier in abating their influence in Society. Unfortunately, it happened that the government is increasingly losing leverage to them.  In terms of influence, the government is getting smaller and smaller whereas they are getting bigger and bigger.
Nowadays, Somali-landers, organized in tribes, are taking initiatives to build roads or motor ways, mobilizing resources and implementing them. From one perspective, it is positive, constructive not destructive; However, my contention is not about that point. The message I am trying to convey is: the realm of traditional players is—knowingly or unknowingly-- alarmingly widening, which will definitely make the state much weaker and far less progressive. Road constructions are typical governmental projects whose initiatives, though private company can implement, must stem from the authority.

Moreover, we have been hearing these days that two groups are having dispute over Berbera cement factory. I have written an article about the subject some days ago. But my concern in this piece is the weird fact that issues such as to whom and how natural resource (cement) is utilized are unfairly being discussed in traditional circles, as if though were no parliament and government. Such issues, in fact, lie outside the mandate of traditional chiefs and should not be invited to do the business. Even if we do so, they don’t have the scope and skills necessary to deal with the task. This is one of the fields they have never been involved.  Utilization of natural resources is primarily legal and economical in nature and concerns state institutions; of course, with the help of expertise and specialists as usual.
Staffing, especially government positions, is also one of the domains, which tribe bosses are very effective and influential. I am not talking about higher political positions where they are presumably more influential, but normal professional jobs that they have nothing to do with. I would suggest to abruptly stopping hiring staff government through tribe solicitors for many reasons. Having said that, I am not oblivious of the fact—to be fair-- that the government made some progress and already started to recruit youth through a relatively fair process by civil service commission. However, you and I know that many higher professional positions are still filled through traditional channels.  Apart from fairness and efficiency concerns, I would like to see their influence shrinking, and this is one of the areas that government is unreasonably losing to tribe chiefs for no obvious reason, if not for political bribery; and if so, the future would not be unfortunately bright. The consideration of regional balance --not necessarily tribe—when forming cabinet is understandable and sometimes necessary, but never ever in recruiting the professional staff. It is really red line for modern progressive government!!!!
Traditional leaders also work as last resort for the judiciary system. Didn’t you know that nearly 99% of cases in courts end up to clan heads where they finally help parties to reach dodgy agreements between them even for the cases that state constitutes as one of the parties,  and therefore should not relinquish responsibility to any one.  Therefore, we can unequivocally say without hyperbole that they superseded courts in this regard. The situation will remain unchanged unless fully fledged justice system with effective law enforcement is put in place.
 All in all, an English maxim says: The best defense is offense; Instead of allowing them to takeover new more fields, I would suggest to policy makers to set a plan with long term strategy that would lead to have their domain influence contracted, so that government and private institutions would gradually replace them. For example, we can establish modern insurance companies that would make their conventional insurance institutions obsolete; and by the way, for your information, most of the accidents they deal with, nowadays, are caused by car accidents.  Similarly, we can also weaken their political influence by introducing regionalism in the position of tribalism, which is more useful and progressive.  I admit, though, this is not an easy assignment as the matter involves values, attitudes and perceptions of the society.  But, Dear reader, believe me, it is not impossible.  We can do it!!! with the help of only and only  visionary leadership, of course.

Prof. Abdi Ali Jama.


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Economic miracles of Quran



Economic miracles of Koran; by Prof. Abdi Ali Jama
Like other sciences, Economics is inundated with corroborations that attest the miraculous nature of Koran. Koran urges us to spend wealth and money whereas it forbids hoarding it; Koran reiterates the word spend …..spend……but never  says keep….keep…… Economics does the same especially at macro level.  Allah created incomes that we receive in return for resources we make available to production process. as a self-fulfilling cycle, we are forced to spend the incomes we earn  partly on consumption goods and the rest on investment goods. Every and each single penny must get spent either in consumption or investment. If significant amount of national income went unspent for a reason or another, a recession will develop which results unemployment and slow economic growth.
If the nation adopts free market economy system, where there is no government intervention, total income must equal to total expenditure; in other words aggregate demand equals aggregate  supply.  However, it occurs sometimes that total expenditure may fall short of total income.  In such cases government is recommended to fill the gap and spend more, so that bust and unemployment would be avoided. In this regard, classical economists (opponents of government intervention) believed that economy should be left intact, because they argue that the economy has inherent power to recover from such distortions on its own.
However, Keynesians (proponents of government intervention) contended that it would be too late if we wait for so long; therefore  government intervention is necessary before the situation gets worse. In this context, the Great Depression of 1930’s is a classic example when recession persisted for a decade. In my view, both of them are right. In this context, Economics is like Medicine. For instance, we , as  human being,  are armored with immune system that combats against any diseases that might attack us. Yet, we, sometimes, fall sick. This does not necessarily mean we have no innate immune system. If the condition is not that serious, we better not take medications and leave the case to be dealt with by  immune system; but if ailment is grave,  medical intervention would probably be necessary. The same way, corrective mechanism is built- in the economy in case it runs into stagnation. But if consequences would deemed to be far reaching and destructive, government intervention would be equally probably necessary.
On the other hand, at micro level, we are exhorted by Koran and traditions to give alms to poor people. According to utility theory, when something –commodity or money—is relatively more abundant to you, the last units of it is increasingly becoming useless for you. But, ironically, the same units are of high value for not-haves. The wisdom behind it is obvious; when affluent people give marginal units to deprived , the total utility of the society  increases and hence the level of wellbeing. 
From macro perspective, personal charity activities that millions of individuals are transferring part of their incomes to poorer people would add up and hence upgrade the average level of standard of living for the whole society in general.
In nut shell, Koran discourages accumulating fortunes with out expending it. There is a long verse in suratul-al tawba that warns against the evil act of piling up wealth without putting it into useful use.  In addition to that, we are told to disburse money in helping the destitute and dead- broke people. Economics in theory and practice adopts the same notion which manifests once more how Faith and Economics get on well with one another.
Prof: Abdi Ali Jama
Hargeisa
Abdirrahman99@hotmail.com