Tallaabo co, come in.

[OdaySomali]

Tallaabo;932450 wrote:

This is an excellent thread

but you can not ignore the fact that if the union of Somaliland and Somalia was good for the Somali people today we would have something to show for it.

I object to your question because it is a leading one. What you refer to is not a fact but an opinion and a flawed opinion at that. To think that "if the union of Somaliland and Somalia was good for the Somali people today we would have something to show for it" would be very simplistic because the world is not that black and white. The union have may potential benefits, but if it is not managed well or operated in a proper manner, the benefits from it cannot be realised. But that does not mean that a union is not good for the Somali people; it is just the case that the last internatinoally recognised government of the Somali people was not good for the Somali people.

 

The reason why the union (Somali goverment( failed was because it was badly structured and managed. The last Somali government failed because it was autocrative, oppresive, practiced nepotism and it used force against its own people. there was a concentration of power and there were no independently functioning national institutions which meant that when the cgovernment was overthrown the country came to a standstill and there was a lack of governance or public service provision. This is not something that is set in stone or cement, this is something that can be changed.

 

The political structures can be changed to make government more decentralised, more effective,more accountable and more democratic. Institutions can be built and they can be made independent from government and there can be checks in place to make sure that they too are effective and accountable.

 

Speaking of benefits, economically we will be better off if Somalis stick together and this is for countless reasons. Automatically if we remain together we will have:

 

- Our sub-economies can complement eachother.

 

- A bigger country with a bigger population, a greater GDP and the government has a greater tax-base from both the greater number of companies and the larger working population.

 

- Both the private sector and the public sector can realise economic of scale.

 

- We will have a bigger domestic market as there are more consumers and a greater pool of labour.

 

- This in turn means we can attract more investment.

 

- We will also have greater leverage in political and economic terms, precisely because there are more consumers and there is a greater pool of labour.

 

- All of the above means we can have a larger military and out security and that we can better defend oout political and eocnomic interests.

 

- Our land and resources will still be plenty as we will only be a populaiton of 10m for a country of 600 miles quared, with 3,300KM coast and plenty of resources. We cans till work hard to equally distribute wealth.

 

There are many more benefits we can achieve.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

First of all this is Africa , African countries are always poorly managed whether it will be now or in the future it just needs more accountability. To argue that a union with Somalia is attractive for Somalilanders than or in the future u are dead wrong. The political structures cannot be changed since now you have institutionalized clanism 4.5 and clan federalism. Nor can you change Koonfurians and their political culture.

 

You said that a higher GDP if Somalia unites with Kenya it will have an overall higher GDP but that doesn't mean the GDP per capita will change. There is no need for much economic integration currently between Somalia and Somaliland. Even separately as two states its not beneficial. From a Somaliland perspective, since Somaliland is 1/3 of the former Somali republic.

 

Taxation controlled by Koonfurians will never be equally distributed. While if SL corporations invest abroad the SL goverment can tax the SL corporations and the tax revenues will be re invested in Somaliland and not Somalia. The resources in SL these resources will be shared between the 4 million Somalilanders even if Somaliland modernizes its ports it doesn't have to share its revenues with the Koonfurians or any other country. As long as there is huge capital in SL international investors can be attracted and even closely cooperating with neighboring states to gain leverage from European countries and negotiate on stronger terms to get the right prices for horn of Africa export products and resources. Also aid from the western countries will be much higher if its separately received.

 

Also Somaliland will participate as co equals, in regionally integrated organizations and international bodies. Somaliland will captalize on a solid record of economic infrastructural progress and development. All in all Somaliland is better off alone it can faster develop alone it can preserve its own identity and history alone and it can keep its fine intercultural values to its own people and better their own societies and ofcourse the quality of life of their own people. It can keep its resources for their own people it can expand its Business entrepreneurial projects in the horn, while they only benefit from it. Just think of SL how it advanced the past 2 decades alone with no recognition and no trilateral aid, Imagine how developed it could have been if they never united with Somalia.