The Return of the Political Ghosts: Somalia Deserves Better

There’s a strange rhythm in Mogadishu. It picks up every few years, like clockwork. The city starts buzzing. Flights land. Hotel lobbies fill up. The faces? Familiar. Too familiar. Men who once held the reins of power—Abdirahman Abdi Shakur, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Cumar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Hassan Ali Kheyre Sharif Ahmed —have returned. But not to answer for past failures. Not to apologize. No. They’re back to run again.

And frankly, Somalia deserves better.

Let’s not beat around the bush: these men had their chance. Some led, some followed, but all failed to break the cycle. Now, they show up with big promises and clean suits, hoping people forget how they left. These aren’t patriots returning home—they’re political tourists with a seasonal ticket.

The truth? Their kids don’t live in Somalia. They don’t attend school here. They don’t sit through blackouts or dodge explosions. Their families are tucked away in Dubai, or Europe, far from the instability these men helped create—or, at best, never solved.

Worse still, they spend Somali money abroad. Millions in remittances are sent to prop up their lifestyles while average citizens scrape by. Hospitals crumble. Roads crack. But hey, at least the politicians have villas overseas.

Now that the country is starting to gain traction—pushing back against Al-Shabaab, strengthening national institutions, and exploring energy reserves offshore—suddenly, these figures return. Not to help, but to disrupt. Their timing isn’t accidental. They’re not here to support progress—they’re here to hijack it.

They know that if Somalia stabilizes and shifts toward genuine democracy, their old tricks won’t work. So they stoke chaos. They manufacture crises. They divide communities just enough to justify their political comeback. It’s cynical, but it’s worked before.

But let’s stop pretending we don’t see it. These returns are not heroic. They are calculated. The country doesn’t need ex-leaders who left when things got hard. It needs leaders who never left.

And enough with indirect elections and clan-based deals. Somalia’s future can’t be negotiated in a hotel room. The only fair way forward is one person, one vote. Real democracy. Not staged elections for recycled elites.

To those in power—or seeking it—I say this: Somalia is not a stepping stone. It is a nation of people with memory, pride, and purpose. We remember. We see. And we are watching.

The carousel must stop. Somalia can’t afford to spin in circles any longer.