Puntland’s Missing Link: Accountability, Law Enforcement, and the Making of Repeat Offenders
The first duty of any government is not building roads, holding conferences, issuing press releases, or making political speeches. The first duty of government is to establish and maintain law and order. Without law and order, everything else becomes a facade. Without accountability, a state gradually surrenders authority to criminals, armed groups, and political opportunists.
Unfortunately, one of the greatest failures of the administration of President Said Abdullahi Deni has been its inability to grasp this fundamental principle.
For years, Puntland has projected itself as one of the more stable regions of Somalia. Yet stability is not measured merely by the absence of war. Stability is measured by the ability of institutions to investigate crimes, prosecute offenders, record violations, enforce the law impartially, and prevent repeat offenses. By this standard, Puntland’s law enforcement institutions remain alarmingly weak.
No society is immune from violence. Every country experiences criminal acts, murders, armed clashes, political instigation, and breaches of public order. The difference between a functioning state and a failing one lies in what happens afterward. Were suspects identified? Were they summoned for questioning? Were investigations conducted? Were criminal records maintained? Were prosecutions initiated? Were preventative measures put in place?
In Puntland, too often the answer is no.
A few years ago, nearly forty people were reportedly killed in armed clashes in Garowe. Similar deadly incidents have occurred in Bosaso and elsewhere. Yet the public has rarely seen serious investigations, public inquiries, prosecutions, or convictions proportionate to the magnitude of these crimes. Families bury their dead. Communities move on. Political leaders issue statements. Then silence follows.
One is left asking a troubling question: How can dozens of people be killed and nobody be held responsible?
Where are the police investigations?
Where are the witness statements?
Where are the arrest warrants?
Where are the court proceedings?
Where are the official records?
The absence of answers is not merely an administrative weakness; it is an invitation to future violence.
When perpetrators discover that there are no consequences for their actions, they become emboldened. Today’s offender becomes tomorrow’s gang leader. Today’s armed agitator becomes tomorrow’s political mercenary. The lesson learned is simple: violence works and accountability does not exist.
A functioning police service does not wait for crimes to disappear into public memory. It actively summons suspects, interviews witnesses, gathers intelligence, maintains criminal records, and builds prosecutable cases. This is basic police work practiced in every functioning jurisdiction in the world. Yet Puntland’s security institutions continue to rely excessively on reactive measures while neglecting the painstaking investigative work that actually deters crime.
Equally troubling is the apparent absence of institutional memory. Effective law enforcement depends on records. Governments must know who committed what offense, where it occurred, who financed it, who participated, and whether the individuals involved are repeat offenders. Criminal behavior follows patterns. Intelligence gathering exists precisely to identify those patterns before they erupt into violence.
When governments fail to maintain such records, every incident begins from zero. Every criminal receives a fresh start. Every cycle of violence repeats itself.
Puntland’s traditional conflict-resolution mechanisms, once among its greatest strengths, have also been underutilized. Elders, customary authorities, community leaders, and local mediation structures historically played a significant role in containing violence and identifying troublemakers. Modern law enforcement and traditional mechanisms should complement one another, not operate in isolation.
The consequence of this institutional neglect is becoming increasingly visible. Individuals involved in previous acts of violence continue to resurface in new conflicts. Some are reportedly recruited by external political actors seeking to destabilize Puntland. Others become permanent agents of disorder. This should surprise nobody. A government that fails to impose consequences effectively subsidizes future lawlessness.
The issue is therefore larger than any individual crime. It concerns the credibility of the state itself.
A government that cannot investigate murders weakens public confidence.
A government that cannot prosecute offenders weakens deterrence.
A government that cannot maintain records weakens intelligence.
A government that cannot hold perpetrators accountable weakens its own authority.
The tragedy is that Puntland possesses many of the ingredients required for effective governance: experienced security personnel, established institutions, traditional authority structures, and a population that overwhelmingly desires peace and stability. What has been missing is political commitment to build a culture of accountability.
The path forward is neither complicated nor revolutionary. Puntland must strengthen criminal investigations, institutionalize record-keeping, establish transparent inquiry procedures following major incidents, improve intelligence coordination, empower prosecutors, and ensure that every serious crime produces a visible legal response.
The message must be unmistakable: violence carries consequences.
Without such reforms, Puntland risks creating a permanent class of repeat offenders who move from one crisis to another, confident that the state will neither investigate nor punish them. A society that fails to confront lawlessness eventually becomes hostage to it.
The measure of a government is not how loudly it speaks about security. The measure of a government is whether criminals fear the law.
In Puntland today, that remains the unanswered question.
END
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