Politics was never meant to be a theater of brute force. It was envisioned as a noble contest of intellect, a chessboard where the sharpness of the pen outweighed the sharpness of the sword. In that arena, words served as arrows that shed no blood, and debates became the true battlefield where nations were built or broken. The pen was once the sword of honor, a weapon of dignity wielded in defense of justice, progress, and the fragile bonds of community.
Yet when the game of politics reaches its endgame, some abandon strategy for destruction. Where civility once reigned, chaos now lurks. The Somali Region today stands at such a perilous juncture. Leaders who rose through the force of rhetoric and activism now risk transforming into warlords, and the chessboard of dialogue trembles on the edge of collapse.
Kinship, however, imposes its own law. Quarrels may exist, but blood demands restraint. A dignified defeat brings greater honor than a hollow triumph that leaves behind ruin. The Somali Region’s political class must remember that a game lost can always be replayed, strategies refined, and new moves tested. But once the chessboard itself is shattered, no side wins. Only shards of destruction remain scattered across kinship’s fragile table.
True victory lies not in the fist but in patience, wisdom, and strategy. Politics must be reclaimed as the art of penlords, not surrendered to the chaos of warlords. For in the end, a broken chessboard offers no future. It leaves behind sorrow, disillusion, and wasted generations.
If today’s leaders are to preserve honor and secure tomorrow, they must return to the discipline of the pen, where strategy commands respect and wisdom defines victory. Only then can the Somali Region step away from the precipice and transform looming ruin into renewed possibility.
By. M.A. Ahmed – Cagaweyne
Writer And Political Analyst
