“We want a government so badly,” says a Somalian businessman being interviewed on Newsnight. “We may not pay any taxes but it would be more correct to say we don’t pay any formal taxes.” He complains of the lack of utility services and the cost of security.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!” I yell at the TV. “You don’t need a government! If you want water pipes then build them! It will be a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for a bunch of corrupt politicians to sit around making a mess of everything!”
Somalia has been without a government since 1991.
The BBC reporter points at poverty and squalor and run down buildings as evidence that Somalia needs a government. If Somalia is poor then it is surely only because its economy needs to grow, and what better way to do this than trade internationally? The good news is that Coca-Cola has built a bottling plant there. The security force is hired, contracts are drawn up — in Somalia an arbitration system is used in the absence of courts — workers are hired, and money is flowing in.
The reporter is amazed that the businesses are becoming more powerful than the warlords. One businessman employs an army of 1500 men. According to Newsnight this is a dangerous state of affairs. But better these men are employed guarding something useful than roaming around pillaging. And businesses, unlike governments and warlords, are surely less inclined to use force for anything other than protecting their own property.
As Somalia gets richer the warlords will become less powerful, new businesses will spring up to provide essential services like water supplies, electricity, roads and banking, and the country will go from strength to strength unimpeded by tax and bureaucracy.
That is unless interfering Westerners manage to persuade Somalians that what they really need is tax, bureaucracy and government.
I like the way you think. Government is not institutionalized in Somali society so it would never stand a chance to work well.