Said Abdullahi Deni did not come to Puntland’s presidency to make Puntland stronger. He came to make himself bigger

For too long, that was the operating logic of his administration. Mogadishu shaped his political imagination, and Mogadishu remained the measure of his ambition. Puntland gave him the office, the security structure, the public budget, the political platform, and the parliamentary influence needed to pursue national power. Yet he often governed as if Garowe were merely a temporary headquarters for