Somaliland has no political prisoners, declares the President

He outlaws the commercialization of education at the expense of learning as 30000 sit for final national examinations for primary and secondary schools

By M.A. Egge

The President, H.E. Musa Bihi Abdi has denied that there were prisoners of conscious in the country. The President made the remarks at Sh. Ali Ibrahim School yesterday morning as the schools in the country had thirty thousand candidates sitting for their annual final national examinations.

He outlawed the commercialization of education at the expense of learning and rights of the students.

While quite ably answering members of the press in a parley that depicted his oratory acumen, the President said, “we have no political prisoners other than those who erred by breaching the laws of the land”, in an answer to a prod on legislative member Dakool who called the declaration of Independence Day a dark one.

On the same note the President acknowledged that there was a lot of work to be done on infrastructure and as far as the beautification of the city is concerned.

The President was answering to a press that could have been palpitated as a charged one given the tone and barrage of questions they tossed but his retorts were quite apt and remarkable as per cue.

The venue and occasion did not blend with the queries, a tinge in the pros and cons of democracy for an emerging country.

As the 30,000 pupil and student candidates for the primary and secondary national exams sat for their papers, the Head of State H.E. Musa Bihi Abdi made the unprecedented move of distributing question test papers to the teens, a first fete for a seating Head of State.

While happily distributing the papers at Sh. Ali Ibrahim school the President a jovial tete-a-tete with a seemingly young pupil who stark out of the rest either for his weeny age or size.

The President had a hilarious moment when he visited the school that fondly rekindled his memories 53 years earlier (1966) when he sat for similar national exam at the same venue, pointing to the class in particular.

He had good words for the students as a whole encouraging them to beat fear and ‘grapple the issues at hand formidably’.

He outlawed the commercialization of education and decried tendencies that private schools take to by dishing out cars as trophies to best students.

He noted that all Somalilander students ought to be treated equally hence declared that the sector would be streamlined to adhere to ethical standards and also lifting up the quality of education.

Saying that the youth today would be the leaders of tomorrow in any given field, he advised them that time flies fast hence named several notable personalities whom they were classmates and others ahead of him..

The President told the students that they were lucky that they today had many aiding tools for education like the internet, something quite different from yester-years when pupils were coached to use their mental capacity excessively.

He revealed that 1300 National Youth Service members were posted to aid in the security invigilating exercise of the examinations.