Somalia Deserves Leadership, Not Political Survival
By Ahmed Farah

From afar, Somalia is often seen through a narrow lens: conflict, piracy, famine, and instability. But those who take a closer, more honest look know that this Horn of Africa nation has extraordinary potential. Its people are resilient. Its youth are ambitious. Its coasts are rich. Its culture is deep. The tragedy is not that Somalia has been broken. The tragedy is that even now, with so many opportunities within reach, the country’s leadership appears more invested in consolidating personal power than uniting and rebuilding a nation that deserves so much better.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud returned to power in 2022 with considerable goodwill. Many, inside and outside Somalia, hoped he had learned from his first term and would now govern with the maturity and foresight the country urgently needed. Instead, more than two years into his presidency, Somalia remains dangerously divided, its federal system under stress, and its people left to wonder whether the top priority in Villa Somalia is national transformation or political survival.

There have been military operations against al-Shabaab, to be sure. Speeches have been made, drone strikes have landed, towns have been "liberated." But these victories are repeatedly hollowed out by a lack of follow-through. Governance does not replace the gunmen. Services do not follow the soldiers. And sooner or later, the militants return stronger, more embedded, more lethal. This cycle continues because the state remains weak at its core, riddled with corruption, reliant on foreign forces, and lacking a clear vision of inclusive national development.

Then came the bold announcement of electoral reform. Somalia would move to universal suffrage, for the first time in over half a century. It sounded like progress. But almost immediately, key federal member states, especially Puntland, rejected the process not because they oppose democracy, but because they were not consulted. The move felt less like a sincere attempt to give Somalis their voice and more like a political calculation to fast-track re-election through a centralized process that tilts the playing field. Puntland, alarmed by creeping authoritarianism, declared its withdrawal from the federal political system, a sign of just how fractured the national fabric has become.

More worrying still are the economic decisions being made in secrecy, far from public scrutiny. The recently publicized agreement with Turkey, which grants Ankara 90 percent of Somalia’s future hydrocarbon revenues in exchange for naval support, has shocked even longtime observers of Somali politics. This is not partnership. This is surrendering the country’s future wealth, perhaps its only ticket to self-sufficiency, before a single drop of oil has been commercially extracted. In any country, this would be considered political malpractice. In Somalia, it is potentially irreversible damage.

What is particularly painful is that the Somali people are not failing their country. They are moving forward wherever they can. In the diaspora, Somalis are thriving as doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, scholars. At home, they are building businesses, educating their children, and holding their communities together with little help. But their leaders continue to betray their efforts with short-term thinking, corruption, and political gamesmanship.

The president's frequent international travel does little to ease these concerns. While he courts global attention and international handshakes, the urgent work of nation-building at home is neglected. Somalia is not a project to be marketed abroad. It is a homeland that demands sweat, sacrifice, and presence.

There is still time. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud can abandon the path of electoral self-interest and become the unifier Somalia needs. He can reject the temptation to trade away the nation’s resources for temporary support. He can sit with the federal states, not as a commander but as a partner, and begin rebuilding trust. He can choose to lead with humility and wisdom, instead of calculation and control.

To move forward and avoid another decade of lost opportunity, several urgent steps should be taken:

First, the president must rebuild trust through genuine federal dialogue. He should immediately initiate an inclusive national conversation with all federal member states, particularly Puntland and Jubaland, possibly with neutral mediation. Only through consensus can the federal model be repaired and made functional again.

Second, all foreign agreements, especially those involving Somalia’s natural resources and security sovereignty, must be subject to parliamentary oversight and public transparency. The Turkish hydrocarbon deal, in particular, must be re-evaluated with national interest in mind. A national resource council should be formed, involving federal states, civil society, and independent experts.

Third, military victories must be tied to long-term stabilization. Clearing areas from al-Shabaab without restoring basic governance is not a strategy, it is a stalling tactic. Somalia needs to train and deploy local police, re-establish services, and empower communities to protect peace once the military leaves.

Fourth, the administration must end the culture of political appointments based on loyalty and clan favoritism. Public institutions cannot serve the nation when they are packed with cronies. A credible anti-corruption commission should be created, and appointments should be based on qualifications, not personal alliances.

And finally, the president must lead by being present. Symbolism matters. Somalia does not need a jet-setting head of state; it needs a grounded, visible leader who visits neglected areas, listens to ordinary citizens, and delivers on promises. Rebuilding trust starts with proximity.

From the outside, we see a country that should be a regional anchor. A crossroads of trade. A cradle of culture. A hub of innovation. But none of that will come to pass if the politics at the top continue to revolve around preserving power at the expense of building institutions. The Somali people are not asking for perfection. They are asking for leadership. For fairness. For peace. For a chance to write a new chapter.

If Somalia’s president cannot deliver that, then someone else must. Because the country cannot afford another lost decade. The window is closing. The world is watching. And history will not be kind to those who chose power over progress.