Women seek end to international intrusion on Africa

Women have called for unity on the continent to end the international community’s subjugation of Africans.

Speaking to The Guardian at the recent African Women In Dialogue (AfWID) in Johannesburg, South Africa, founder of Move Somalia Forward, Ms. Fadumo Dayib, said the international community had been responsible for the upheavals in Somalia for over 30 years.

Her words, “The international community has been funding a system called the 4.5 Clan-based Power Sharing. For over 40 years, Somalians have not been able to vote. We have clan elders who actually choose representatives of their clans in the parliaments and senate. These senators are the ones who would select the president every four years.”

According to her, the 4.5 system was one that oppresses and subjugates women and youths because the clans, who are able to share power equally do not acknowledge women and youths.

She said, “There are also the .5s who are the marginalised and vulnerable clans, meaning, they are sub-humans. This is the only system in the world that continues to exist in this age, yet the [western] countries are funding such a despicable system. They do this because as long as Somalia is in chaos and turmoil, they benefit extremely from its resources.

“If the international community is paying for the demise of Somalia, then we need to do something about it. As pan-Africans, we need to take note of countries that Somalia has been in conflict with, and how these conflicts have been sustained.”

She opined that it was difficult for Somalia to gain prosperity and peace as long as one per cent of the elite run the affairs, which is not based on merit but on the clan elders that had been bribed.

“This is why you find very incompetent and unqualified politicians in Somalia. These communities are all over Africa funding small-scale development programmes which are of no use to Africa. For instance, the international community is supposedly saving Somalis with aids; meanwhile, Somalis in the diaspora are remitting $1.2 billion every year, which contributes to the formal economy of the country. In other words, we do not need aids from these communities, as we are remitting three times the amount they give us.

They are actively silencing about 51 per cent of the population by funding this system.”

She said African countries needed to support one another and stop subjugating other Africans.

“We cannot help each other until we first, democratise our countries on the continent. Then we can reach out to other countries in distress with peacekeeping,” she added.

Minister of Education, Youth and Gender, culture and Social Services, Narok County, Kenya, stressed the need for the continent to find ways to influence decisions on a global level, she also called on women to contribute in the decision making by supporting the men.

“We have to change the narrative and be bold. We may lose a lot in raising the generation that will live off our sacrifices. Leadership is lonely, hence resilience is key to fighting for real change.”