Abstract:
Effective leadership and good governance are fundamental to fostering sustainable development
in least-developed countries like Somalia. The objective of this study was to examine the
interrelationship between leadership and good governance in Garowe, Puntland. To this end,
mixed-methods research design was employed to achieve the objective of this study.
Quantitative data were collected through surveys from 157 government officials, while
qualitative data were obtained from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. Data analysis was
conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20, with descriptive
statistics such as frequencies and techniques like cross-tabulation applied to analyze quantitative
data. The quantitative findings, reflecting a gender distribution of 64% male and 36% female
respondents, indicating that leadership experiences and governance priorities may differ between
male and female officials, while qualitative insights emphasized the critical role of leadership in
promoting transparency and accountability, thereby improving governance quality. The research
underscores the need for policy interventions to strengthen leadership capacities and
governance frameworks, proposing a future research agenda that includes comparative studies
across different regions in Puntland to generalize findings and refine strategies for leadership and
governance enhancements.
