The passing of the May 15th threshold was supposed to bring an end to the guessing game in Somali politics. Instead, we all watched the latest high-stakes attempt at dialogue in Mogadishu fall apart. Despite intense pressure from regional partners and international mediators, the three days of closed-door meetings ended without a single handshake.
To the outside world, this looks like the usual story of political stubbornness – a simple clash of egos over mandates and extensions. But those of us who are actively competing to lead this country out of this cycle know that the breakdown wasn’t tactical. It was entirely structural.
The talks didn’t fail because people ran out of time. They failed because the entire process was fundamentally broken from the start. And that is exactly why I am running for the Presidency of the Federal Republic: not to negotiate for a comfortable seat in a broken house, but to replace this exhausted way of doing business with a system that actually works.
The False Choice: Trading Seats for Systems
For months, the administration in Mogadishu has been operating under a dangerous delusion – the idea that you can bargain a stable country into existence inside a closed tent. Recent meetings have taken on the character of a property negotiation, focused on setting the terms by which power is allocated, rather than an honest effort to fix a fractured constitutional reality.
When central authority behaves like a sledgehammer – attempting to run a complex federation by unilateral decree, rewriting foundational laws without national consensus, and declaring new rules by executive fiat – it destroys the basic trust required to govern.
Last week, surrounded by elders, intellectuals, and young people at Masraxa Dookh in Garoowe, the collective anxiety in the room pointed to a truth that the latest collapse has laid bare: You cannot condemn the foundation and then try to paint the walls. The contradiction at the heart of the Mogadishu negotiations was always fatal. You cannot declare a central process illegitimate, reject unilateral rewrites of the constitution, and then sit down to negotiate an election built on top of those exact same rewrites. It makes no sense. If the map itself is wrong, no amount of international goodwill or political posturing will get you to the destination.
“Before we debate the next election, we have to make sure there is still a Republic left to govern. My candidacy is focused on exactly that: delivering a deep, permanent overhaul of our institutions so we can have a stable, legitimate transition of power.”
The Reality Behind the Deadlock
The collapse of the dialogue proves that a simple political pact between a few men in a room cannot fix the deeper cracks in the state. While everyone fights over timelines and extensions, the questions that actually matter to ordinary Somalis are completely ignored by the current leadership. These are the structural voids my platform is designed to address:
- Restoring our baseline: A negotiation without an agreed rulebook is just a shouting match. By drifting away from our shared social contract – the 2012 Provisional Constitution – the political leadership stepped into a legal vacuum. The 2012 framework is our protection. Bypassing it for temporary backroom deals just sets us up for the next crisis.
- Addressing the real economic issues: While we argue about dates and seats, the questions that actually matter to ordinary Somalis are completely ignored. Nobody is talking about Fiscal Federalism. Nobody is resolving how national resources actually reach a soldier in Galkayo, a teacher in Baidoa, or communities across the Somalia heartland. When power is treated as a personal prize rather than a system, the state stops working for its people.
- Building agreements that last: Any deal that relies entirely on the whims of a few individuals will fall apart the moment their personal interests change. Somalia doesn’t need a temporary breather between rivals; it needs a functioning system that stays standing no matter who wins the election and lives in the palace.
The Alternative: A Politics of Design
We cannot keep living through this exhausting cycle of expiring mandates, contested declarations, and midnight scrambles for artificial consensus. The sledgehammer approach has hit its limit. I am presenting myself in this upcoming election because I believe we need to shift from the politics of bitterness to the politics of design.
The solution isn’t to give a broken arrangement more time; it is to build a better system. My administration will focus on the practical, non-negotiable requirements for national survival:
- Real protections for the regions: We need legal and technical boundaries that permanently protect the autonomy of our Federal Member States from the constant volatility of the capital. The federation must work by law, not by permission.
- A secure national payroll: The livelihoods of our security forces and civil servants should never be held hostage by political gridlock. We need a transparent, digital ledger that pays our people directly, regardless of executive disputes.
- A dependable commercial code: Our business community and the global Diaspora need a safe harbour. They need to be able to bet their capital on a solid contract, not a political relationship.
The Spirit of 1943
As these talks were falling apart, our country marked the 83rd anniversary of the Somali Youth League and National Youth Day. Back in 1943, the 13 young founders of the SYL didn’t have an army or a massive treasury. What they had was a clear program. They had the maturity to put a functioning system ahead of personal ambition.
The political vacuum we are looking at today is not an accident of history; it is the direct result of bad choices. The failure of the closed-door meetings in Mogadishu is a clear sign that the old way of doing politics is over. The solution will not come from the centre alone. It has to be a national effort, drawing on the consensus-building traditions and the shared aspirations of all Somali communities.
I am ready to help secure an agreed path out of the transition and to compete for the trust of the Somali people. It is time to choose responsibility over noise, and stability over haste.
Nuradin Dirie