Mr. Mohamed Ali Yusuf (Gaagaab) has arrested and detained the natives of Puntland region without any reason or court authority from the Puntland Government. Mr. Mohamed Ali Yusuf, popularly known as "Gaagaab," has handed over to the Ethiopian regime several Somalis, including young men and elders, in the name of fighting terrorism.

Mr. Gaagaab is the Minister of Finance in Puntland, who is mainly responsible for stimulating the economy and managing the government budget. However, he has done little of that, but plays the role and responsibility of the head of security in Puntland, and often the Chief Justice of the court and many other positions that he has been known to engage in.

During a recent press conference, Finance Minister Gaagaab said: "We [Puntland Government] will create 'security committees' in every Bossaso neighborhood, which will help us capture anyone who is a threat to the government." Further, Mr. Gaagaab encouraged the residents of Bossaso to report to him personally and he promised a reward.

In political perspective, these remarks made by Mr. Gaagaab seem like a very totalitarian official, especially since he is the Minister of Finance. After genuinely analyzing Mr. Gaagaab's remarks, two things became clear: one, there is a power struggle within the Puntland administration, because you don't quite often hear any administration whose "bookkeeper" is making arrests and instructing citizens to report to him personally any acts of insecurity; secondly, Mr. Gaagaab's comments is a continuation of the mentality that "the strongest will prevail and the weak ones will be subjugated." However, this will create a completely new social aspect, whereby the weak will vanish and the strong will be conquered by the strongest.

In the many cases where we have seen this type of circumstances, history has shown that in the end the table always turns to integrity and justice. Although this is not the point of this article, it shows that people in Puntland are being demoralized and a key part of the responsibility lies with Mr. Gaagaab, who has the support of Puntland leader Adde Muse.

The Puntland Finance Minister's comments and his act of detaining innocent Somalis is a direct threat to the Puntland Government and to the region's social order. I believe that Mr. Gaagaab is perhaps suffering from neurosis symptom, because many of the signs portray him to be distrustful of his fellow citizens and he is willing to accept and enforce irrational solutions to community problems.

According to the Puntland Government website, there is a Chief Justice of the High Court, yet no one on the High Court bench has publicly spoken out against Mr. Gaagaab and his illegal practice of arresting innocent people. Certainly, in a land governed by constitutional law, no citizen can be arrested without court approval, never mind handed over to the Ethiopian regime!

This act of injustice on the part of the Puntland Government, I believe, is planting the seeds of rebellion because more and more, the people of Puntland are tired of the present situation and they might unite to overthrow this ruthless and corrupt regime, if such behavior is not stopped. History has shown that oppressing people does not achieve an objective, except the destruction of a state. The Puntland Government should be just and fair to all the people regardless of demographics and their clan background. The government should be for the people and by the people, not other way around.