Chinedu Onyejelem

Remember Somalia, which was branded a failed state for so many years? Indeed, for more than two decades following the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia had no formal parliament or functioning government. During the gloomy period, various warlords took control of different parts of the country, and Al-Shabab became the strongest militant group to emerge from the crisis.

But all that began to change in 2012, when a new government was set up with the backing of the international community.

Although the conflict is not over, today Somalia, with a population of about one million people seems more stable than it has been in decades thanks to its interim government and a strong presence by African peacekeepers, not to mention a Kenyan military onslaught against Somali militants between 2011 and 2012. Most recently, Somali government forces said they have ended Al-Shabab’s six-year-long control over Godahey, a strategic southwestern village, following the loss of its strongholds in Dinsor and Bardere.

Somalia is scheduled to hold its first free elections since the 1960s, and with the country’s relatively stability, some observers believe it will be successful. However, interim President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has ruled out the possibility of conducting elections any time soon, claiming that the continued Islamic insurgency in the country would not guarantee a free and fair vote.

Opposition parties have accused Mohamud’s government of taking advantage of the country’s security situation to extend its mandate. Even the UN, which has struggled to bring stability to the country, has also expressed concern with the interim government’s plans. “Any term extension beyond the designated mandate will be unacceptable,” the UN’s special representative to Somalia, Nicholas Kay, said in a recent press conference in the country’s capital Mogadishu.

As Somalia, the UN and other backers continue to deliberate on the possibility of holding elections next year, hundreds of people from various political parties are warming up to contest the many positions that will be up for grabs, including the presidency.

The participation of women in Somalia’s elections is also generating attention for many reasons. Somali women and pro-women leaders say this is an opportunity for the country to offer 30 per cent of parliamentary seats to women, as agreed by the Somali National Assembly but not yet fulfilled.

So far two Somali women in the diaspora have already declared their intention to run for the presidency in particular. Born in Kenya and brought up in Somalia, Finland-based Fadumo Dayib, who is currently doing Master’s in public health at Harvard, believes she would become Somalia first female president, says “men have led Somalia for 25 years and they’ve never done anything.” 

“Now, it’s the women’s turn,” was how fellow aspirant, Somali-American Anab Dahir, a medical clinic interpreter, announced her bid in the US.

But they are not the only Somali women in the diaspora that want to play active politics in their home country. While Dublin-based anti-FGM campaigner Ifrah Ahmed does not intend running for election, she told Metro Éireann she has her eyes fixed on a political appointment at some juncture.

“I would like to be a member of the Somali cabinet as minister for women and human rights or minister of health,” said Ahmed, who is currently lobbying both the Somali government and the international community for support to end FGM and tackle the scourge of rape in Somali society.

Nevertheless, Ahmed believes that the Somali elections, if they do indeed occur in 2016, may not be successful, describing them as “just a dream” and adding that they would undoubtedly be marred by vote rigging. The only potential for change, she believes, lies with Somalia’s women.

“Women in leadership will make big difference because during the war women were the ones who supported the country to overcome in economic woes,” she concluded.