Somaliland's diplomats can negotiate partnerships, but the country must build the strength to carry them. Our successful presidential and party elections in November 2024 gave the diplomatic offensive credibility that no speech could manufacture. Tomorrow's diplomatic strength depends on what we build at home today.
President Irro deserves credit for pledging peaceful means to reach Somaliland's borders. Saudi and Turkish ambassadors based in Mogadishu visited Las Anod to antagonise Somaliland, reaching for a card already used and abused in 2023, after the US National Defense Authorization Act included Somaliland cooperation in US law. Irro wisely refused the provocation. By declining to let others dictate a confrontation, he kept Somaliland free to pursue its own diplomatic agenda.
Domestic policy must give that independence substance. As I argued before, Somaliland need not be a nation of angels to deserve recognition. We should be judged on our own record, with our imperfections neither concealed nor turned into an excuse to withhold recognition. The purpose of reform is to strengthen the country we already own.
After more than a hundred posts, this is a rare domestic overview. Each of these subjects deserves articles, even books, and I hope Somalilanders develop and champion them. What must we build to give our diplomacy lasting strength?
- Affordable elections held on time.
- Accountability for corruption and protection for those exposing it.
- Transparent political funding.
- Public administration based on merit rather than clan favouritism.
- An official census that guides public services.
- Education that equips the next generation to lead.
- A domestic defence industry built through partnerships.
- Farming and fisheries projects that strengthen food security.
The government and electoral authorities must agree an affordable electoral calendar, combining ballots where deadlines allow. Savings must come from efficient organisation, because postponement makes citizens pay for cheaper elections with their right to choose.
Between elections, public accountability needs somewhere to go. The government must provide an accessible register for evidence of corruption and official responses, protect journalists and citizens who submit it, and ensure proven wrongdoing has consequences. Somalia shares the lowest score in Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index. Somaliland is much better, but nowhere near acceptable while we barely discuss or confront corruption. Recovering stolen public money would put resources back into the institutions that need them.
Defenders of freedom and a free press must also speak before a journalist is arrested. Corruption enables arbitrary power because officials allowed to disregard the law for money or clan can disregard it to put people behind bars for absolutely no reason. Lasting protection means enforcing the law against those in power, rather than waiting to protest the next abuse.
Political funding is where domestic accountability meets national independence. Parties, candidates and party leaders must disclose their funding in a public register, with penalties for evasion. Disclosure must trace money to its original source through any intermediary, because naming the person delivering it can leave the real sponsor hidden. Somaliland's adversaries must not be allowed to buy influence through someone else's name.
Tribalism, or clanism, is one of the biggest forms of public corruption. Critical ministries must be led on merit. Where clan balance is accommodated elsewhere through an honorary minister, that post must be ceremonial and carry no executive powers. Merit-appointed directors general must run those ministries, control recruitment and select staff on merit. Otherwise, the honorary appointment becomes a route back to the same patronage it was supposed to contain. Political accommodation must stop at the individual, with zero tolerance for clan favouritism below. We cannot accept a clan hierarchy running from the minister all the way to the tea boy.
Public services need reliable information about whom government serves. The government must conduct an official census using modern technology, then allocate services according to population needs beyond Hargeisa and other urban centres. Remote communities must count in national planning, however far they live from the people making decisions.
Education, education, education. Twenty years following Somaliland's politics have shown me the same recurring problems. Had we prioritised education throughout those years, today's twenty year olds could be better equipped than us to lead change. Politics offers powerful elites a shortcut to changing the majority from above; education gives every person the capacity to think and act. It spreads the power to change society beyond those who already hold office. Technology gives us new tools for teaching and independent learning, and the next twenty years are still ours to invest in.
That investment can also supply the expertise for a domestic defence industry. Long isolation makes local production valuable, while maritime threats, including piracy, give it a practical purpose. The government should pursue European and Israeli partnerships to develop local skills and production of drones, firearms and light weapons, creating employment for young people. Clean government and legal control must keep those weapons in responsible hands. The aim is to build Somaliland's ability to defend itself and protect international shipping as it takes responsibility for the southern Gulf of Aden. Our startup nation has the foundations, relationships and motivation to begin.
Productive capacity must also reach the food supply. The government should launch the Western Green Belt Project, developing 10,000 hectares of productive farmland through rainwater harvesting, small dams, solar irrigation, improved seeds, grain silos and agricultural processing facilities. Linking production to storage and processing would make the project an investment in food security rather than acreage alone.
The Eastern Fisheries Project would build two modern fishing harbours, establish a commercial fleet, and develop ice plants, cold storage, seafood processing factories and refrigerated transport. Those facilities would connect the catch to consumers and export markets. Both food projects should proceed in phases, with sustainable water management and fishing quotas guiding development. Their purpose is to create jobs, increase domestic food production and open new export markets without exhausting the resources that sustain them.
In summary, the next diplomatic delegation should carry more than proposals; it should carry the results of what Somalilanders have built.