Before you start reading this article, it is worth noting that one of Somaliland favourite poster boys have just been promoted to the newly concocted Ministry of Rehabilitation’s top post. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Somaliland’s Minister ofRehab.Mr. Xagla-Tosiye. More on this later!But before we delve into the business of mercenaries_thugs for hire_ orfront-menand their guns and drugs that together make up the largest exports of Somaliland products into Khatumo State, We will first examine how small business owners in Lasanod fare against their counterparts in the hunt for international development business grants. Shall we… Let’s go !

I was reading this article about an initiative called Somaliland Business Fund which according to the funding guidelines is designed to stimulate the private sector economy in the region. Funded by the World Band and Danish Development Agency, this project is managed by a UK based consultancy firm called Landell Mills.“Waxaanu bixinaynaa deeqo u dhexeeya $5000 ilaa $150,000 mashaariicda maalgalinaysa hanti maguurto ah ama wanaajinaysa habka ganacsiga ama labadaba”.claims the translation of this document.

While local businesses from the cities of Hargaisa, Burco, Berbera and Borama are expected to apply for these business grants, small and medium sized businesses in Lasanod are expected to lose out even though they are allegedly under the Somaliland administration; thanks to Hargaisa Administration’s business licensing body that calls for “Experience” as one of the criteria upon which these grants will be distributed. _For example, the length of time a horticultural seller owns a license translates into business experience and because Bura’o, Hargeisa, Gabiley or Boorame districts have been under Somaliland administration for more than 10 years before Las anod was captured by Somaliland forces, they are expected to amass the lion’s share of the funds.Despite being the trading centre of Khatumo’s Horticultural business, boasting large volumes of livestock exports, lasanod is poised to lose out. No Business inSoolregion is expected to see a dime of this funding as the so called “experience” factor clearly favours cities such as Burco Hargaisa Borama or Gabiley, over and above Lasanod simply because it was not occupied long enough.

Let’s get high a bit and for a moment look at a different kind of a business; From our neighbors in theNorth,the city of Lasanod imports about 3 lorries of the stimulant drugKhatevery day. With each lorry containing 280 mini-bundles that make up 70 full bundles, neatly filling in about 40 sacks; that is a monthly consumption of 25,200 bundles or 302,400 bundles a year. At 40,000 Sh/som. or 2 dollars a bundle, Lasanod natives jew up $ 604,800.00 (USD) worth of Khat annually. Quite a lot of cash that is permanently spit out of this city’s economy, never to be exchanged for any other goods _Until the following year when the same amount of money makes its way out to theNorthagain. Interestingly, recent reports from Lasanod indicate that for the first timekhatprices have depreciated significantly thus, resulting in more people to afford. Some business analysts attribute this reduction in price to stiff competition by the thugs who broker this business while some _as conspiratorial as they may seem_would logically see this as a deliberate subsidy to drug more of thenativesof Lasanod.

Moreover, into the ideology spectrum and the fervor of the so called Somaliland electioneering, a political party paradoxically dubbed “Xaqsoor” was recently exported to lasanod showcasing a large entourage of land-cruiser Suv’s. The deputy party leader who hails from Khatumo region pronounced to a handful of hand picked cheering crowd: “let’s get our rightful piece of the Hargaisa pie” _perhaps a piece of pie that only the speaker seemed to know and benefit. Sadly some in the crowd appeared to naively believe the existence of such a pie. Remember Hapless Keyse_ the so called leader of Hargaisa’s comical _now defunct _SSC political party, and how after two years he is still in the amnesia of “bringing projects” to Widh-Widh area or Fuad Adan Ade’s admission to a Xargaga Online interview in which he said “Over the past 4 years, Sland has not carried out one single project in lasanod”.The fact remains that Lasanod’s residents suffer from obliterated and shattered hospital infrastructure; broken beds, no birthing wardsand even TB patients rely on food rations from family members. Little NGO money trickles down to this hospital.Thanks in part to the fat cat administrators in Hargaisa who controlMerciUSA’s donations destined specifically to Lasanod Hospital.

Furthermore, let’s examine Haglo-tosiye’s latest “projects” and see if there is any business incentives for Khatumo folks in Cayn region. Starting with his recent trip to Hargaisa. Would Haglo’s import business include medical equipments for the hospital he built as an independent Darwiish ? Would he participate and help lead Buhodle Airport construction projects ? or would he accept handouts from his masters who are trigger happy to empower him with a new SNM Militia post designed to create instability in the Cayn region? Haglo-Tosiye clearly seems to have been drinking Somaliland’s Koolaid as he has just been_ as of three minutes ago into this article_ named Somaliland’s Minister of Rahabilitation; ouch!!! Would he make any attempts to return to his native Buhoodle! only this time as the newest thug in charge of exporting secessionist ideology to historicalKalshaaleandMaygaagle.Only time will tell. However, if you bet on the latter developments of Haglo, here is why you might just be right:

See…In January of 2012, at theSoolSanaagandCaynGrand Congress inTaleex, Haglo-tosiye narrated an inspirational story; A story about how he hired and paid Medical Doctors from India but could not get them to come to Buhodle due to deliberate bureaucratic obstructions by both PLand and Sland. His attempts to use Somaliland as a trustee for importing these MD’s from India were thwarted by Hargaisa’s propaganda and scare tactics, thus leading the Indian government’s embassy officials to deny Visas to their MD’s who would otherwise be willing to work in the SSC region’s Buhodle Hospital. As a result, due to lack of Medical expertise and supports, many Buhodle patients would later be transported to Galkao for advanced medical treatments while many more would never make the long trek to Pland as they lost their lives helplessly in Cayn region. According to modern Natural Justice terms, this act actually qualifies to be no less than a mass murder by causation.

Additionally, as the Kalshaale and Sooljoogto Military stand-offs seem to cool off,A different kind of mass murder evidence was recently uncovered at the water reservoirs ofShangalleandSool-jogtoin Khatumo region.This time not by lack of access to badly needed medical treatments but by bullets of a bully.Will Khatumo folks continue to be divided, hired to kill each other, or be at a quagmire in the interest of a secessionist ideology that is the anti-thesis of the SSC Darwiish DNA? Will khatumo folks continue to be traditionally the loyal clientele that Somaliland companies are so used to; haplessly adding value to Businesses that are clearly favored and openly funded by development dollars? Or is there an alternative !

Will Khatumo folks in Lasanod continue munching in mouth-fulls of Khat, believing that someday somehow they will jew their way out of the current economic and political paralysis over-shadowing their once proud City?Despite Lasanod community’s daily struggles for basic necessities, The Hargaisa administration is adamant to favour perceptions of a military occupation of a piece of colonially charted land over and above the humans that rightfully inhabited it for centuries. From designing unequal business funding distributions, unfair trade balances to willful blindness of crumbling hospitals, the SNM militia will continue to push and fund its ideology in Lasanod through dollars raised from Lasanod.The three stooges/thugs ofIna-Jeni-yare,ina-CambasheandIna-Habsadewho are currently in the business of terror-control in lasanod seem to be all illiterate and oblivious to the malice of the Somaliland’s newest mantra_I will provide you with my bombs and bazookas but never my businesses.

However, whether or not Hagla-tosiye joins the above thugs, one thing is clear: While Khatumo’s new generation of business entrepreneurs and social service administrators organize and gain steam,the boys ofkalshaale’sfederal fever remains too hot for any cold secessionist ideology.

God Bless Khatumo State of Somalia

We are the Ones We have been Waiting for!

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