Guurti's latest distraction…

The economic sub-committee of the House of the Guurti recently presented a long-winded report to the house on six ministries that the committee visited in the past few months. The sub-committee visited ministries like the Finance, Fisheries, Livestock, Planning and National Coordination, and Rural development. These ministries were said to be involved in the ‘productive’ sectors of the economy.

Although one cannot but be cynical about the timing of this latest Guurti visit to the ministries, their achievements were, nonetheless, negligible. The elders went to these ministries in Land Cruisers and listened to whatever ministers and senior functionaries told them, only to pass this back later to the house of Guurti.

To show the futility of these exercises, let’s examine the work of the sub-committee in two of the ministries that they visited.

In the first instance, the elders met with the minister and some senior officials of the Ministry of Fisheries and the Coastal Development. In the ministry, the sub-committee were informed of the fact that the ministry entered into various agreements with all kinds of ships, big and small, owned by Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, among others, to fish from the territorial waters of the country; they learned of the fact that the ministry did not have the wherewithal to protect these territorial waters; of the fact that numerous illegal fishing vessels come and fish from the area ; and of the fact that private individuals give permission to some foreign vessels to fish in the territorial waters.

The Guurti sub-committee did not deeply explore those important issues with the minister and the other officials they met, nor did they pose the right questions warranted by the occasion. The elders did not examine, and report back to the House, the contents of the alleged agreements the ministry signed with these foreign fishing vessels; the legality of these agreements; their effect on the local fishing industry and marine life, and how the revenue from these foreign fishing vessel is being utilized. The committee, by design or default, ignored these important issues.

The salience of these issues is underscored, however, by fact that there is a persistent allegation that the ‘first lady’ is engaged in a kind of business deal with some foreign vessels, fishing from the territorial waters of the country, particularly vessels under Egyptian flagship.

In the second instance, the sub-committee visited the Ministry of Planning and National coordination. Upon arrival of the ministry, the sub-committee found out that they lacked the requisite mandate to supervise the ministry. That mandate was given to the Political and International Relations Committee of the House by Guurti by-laws. The Guurti elders, embarrassed as they were, requested the house to clarify Guurti by-laws, to avoid such confusion in the future. The Guurti commitees in their thirteenth years of existence has yet to learn their roles in the political system.

One can question the existence of such sub-committees in the first place. The primary responsibility the constitution of the country grants to the Guurti is the maintenance of the peace and stability in the country and protecting the culture and religion of the people. In fact, the qualification for membership in the House comes down to someone learned either in religion or traditions and culture of the people. And while many in the Guurti House are even in short supply of these, dividing them into sub-committees and giving them the responsibility to oversee and talk about complex issues like ‘foreign’ policy and the economy is beyond me. They cannot meaningfully discuss about these complex issues.

The latest Guurti visit to the ministries has been aimed at stealing the limelight from elected House of parliament at a time the latter was engaged in a similar mission to the ministries. The elders keep on devising ways to maintain themselves in the picture and appear useful to the system.

Guurti elders have relatively played a positive role in the restoration and maintenance of peace and stability in the country. However, as time progressed, their peace making role has been reduced to supporting one political group over another, always basing their support to the one on the rule of the thumb, while leaving simmering communal flash points, like Caada in Gabilay, to explode into serious threats to the peace.

In the long run, the continued existence of the Guurti in the system, un-elected and without the mandate of the people, is a threat to peace and security in the country. In fact, as I argued elsewhere, the traditional system, which the elders represent, seamlessly fuses with the pervasive malaise of corruption in the country and the majority of Guurti are as corrupt today as the ‘ministers’ in the government.

Now that we have an elected House of parliament in place, the House of the Guurti should be dissolved.

Let the elders seek the democratic mandate of the people in the country. The sooner they do that, the better.

President Riyaale's foreign trips and the chaos that ensues on the road to the airport

It has now become a commonplace that whenever president Riyaale is going to or returning from a foreign trip, the road from the airport all the way to his residence turns into an occupation zone. Uniformed Policemen, trigger happy soldiers, and plain cloths line every five or so meters along the road to the airport. Add this to the numerous battle wagons, including anti-aircraft mounted ones that accompany the president, his vice president and some of his ministers and you will be forgiven to think that you are living in a country ruled by a military junta, rather than a democratically elected government.

These heavy security arrangements put in place at the times when the President is leaving for or returning from a foreign trip interfere with the free movement of citizens and terrorize women and children, while reminding the people of the days of the military dictatorship in the country.

It is important to ensure the maximum security of the president and his entourage. It is equally important not turn the whole route the president travels on into a war zone. The president may as well ‘purchase’ a helicopter to take him to and from the airport to save citizens from the inconveniences attendant on his foreign trips and spare his security men from the painful travails they undergo during his movements. Far fetched? Perhaps not, given the huge budget allocated to the presidency, which exceeds, by some accounts, two million dollars annually. That money is spent, definitely, on anything but roads and schools.

In fact, these exaggerated security arrangements are deliberately concocted by the ministers responsible for the security of the country (i.e. the interior and the defense ministers) for a number of reasons. First, these ministers try to impress the president and make themselves indispensable in his eyes. Second, the ministers show off the forces at their command so that the opposition groups may not make mischievous calculation during the absence of the president abroad and, possibly, during his presence in the country. Lastly, these security arrangements are intended to awe citizens into total submission.

The conduct of these ministers reflects negatively on the administration of Mr. Riyaale, under whose guise these arrangements are made. Mr. Riyaale should review his security arrangements and see what is adequate for his protection on his route to and from the airport and what is the exaggerated ego of his ministers. Hargeisa in not like Baghdad and the road to the airport is not like the road to Baghdad airport.

Mr. Riyaale should be reminded of the fact that he did not assume power by the barrel of the gun, but by a democratically conducted free and fair election in the country. In fact, the exaggerated security arrangements decrease the security environment of the president due to the presence of multiple, gun totting security operatives in close proximity with him.In addition, these security arrangements create an impression that the president has the enemy in his own citizens. All this is not to suggest that the president should disavow his security entourage. Rather, he should moderate it to a level that is commensurate with his needs.

Clearly, a government that sends armored military carriers into civilian hospitals trusts the power of the gun more than the power of persuasion.

There could be twenty five TDI's....

In a special programme on Somaliland TV last night, the vice minister of the ministry of post and telecommunication said there could be twenty five TDI companies. The minister was responding to a question which related to the dubious nature of TDI, raised by one of the journalists .

The exact question put to the vice minister was ‘there is an information that says TDI robbed businesses in other African countries. How can you prove that this is not the same TDI coming here to rob the private telecom companies in Somaliland?’

When a dubious business deal is masqueraded as government policy

Anybody who was following the news in Somaliland during the last month must have noticed the dispute that was brewing between the minister of posts and telecommunications in Somaliland and the private telecommunications companies in Somaliland. The dispute related to an alleged contract that the minister gave to an American telecommunication company known as Transcom Digital Inc (TDI). As per the contract, TDI was supposed to set up a center for interconnecting the several private telecommunication companies operating in Somaliland and for providing Somaliland with a ‘country code’.

The contract given to TDI by the ministry follows in the footsteps of a spate of worrying shoddy deals starting with Total Red Sea Oil Company to foreign fishing companies to the latest investments agreement with MIDROC Company, owned by the Saudi tycoon Al Amoudi. The individuals who negotiated these deals sub rosa only know their contents and the general public were kept in the dark about them.

Obviously, the minister gave the contract to TDI behind the back of the private telecoms. In the first meeting on the issue held in Maansoor hotel in Hargeisa, the minister presented a kind of a fait accompli with the private telecoms. No wonder then that the private telecom representatives rejected the whole scheme outright and immediately stormed out of the meeting.

The minister did not consider a bit about the millions of dollars that the private telecoms invested in setting up these businesses, the business relationships that they have developed over the years with foreign telecom companies and the numerous business contracts they signed to become operational. The telecoms achieved all these without much support to speak of from the government. In fact, while milking thousands of tax dollars from the private telecoms, the government failed time and again to pay her telephone bills.

In his latest press conference in his office on Monday 20/12/2005, the minister, Mr. Hassan Abdi Qayre, spoke at length about the dispute with the telecom companies in Somaliland. The minister accused the telecom companies of obstructing the contract that the ministry awarded to TDI. The minister said that ‘it is the decision of the ministry that private telecoms link up to the center, use the new ‘country code’ and work with us and support us’. The minister, who was a custodial corps officer during the military regime, behaved like he was still in charge of some kind of a prison populated now by private telecom companies, rather than by common criminals.

The minister said that they established contacts with TDI, told them that they have a separate country and flag but that they lack the necessary finances… in order to be independent, therefore, they requested TDI to build them a center for interconnecting their private telecoms and to provide with Somaliland a separate country code.

The minister has got to do some convincing here if the ‘ministers’ do that at all! You do not just show up at the door of international private company and tell them that you have a separate country and flag but, nonetheless, penniless at the moment and then request them to build you a center and give you an country code so as to be an ‘independent’ country…. The company that accepts this must be very strange company indeed. One cannot be far from the truth in claiming that TDI was specially created for this eventuality two or three years ago i.e. to help rob the private telecom companies in Somaliland by fraudsters who have good local connections with some individuals in positions of power in Somaliland.

The minister also mentioned in the press conference that they ‘were helped to contact TDI by some Somalilanders in the Diaspora’. As observed by keen Somali observers, individuals from the Somali Diaspora coming back home with dubious business projects have been new a phenomenon throughout Somalia. These individuals try their luck to deceive businesses and local authorities, thinking that people back home are so ignorant and gullible.

When asked the minister about the reason they did not award the contract to TDI through a public tender as required by law, the minister said that ‘ public tenders are used by those who have money’. This means that if you do not have money, you do not need to abide by the laws of the land.

Another interesting question in which the minister was asked related to the legality of the deal with TDI since it was not supposedly passed by the parliament. The minister replied by saying that he asked TDI to build the center for them and that he did not give them a single shilling; therefore there is no need to talk about the legality of the deal.

When further asked about how TDI will benefit from investing in Somaliland, the minister said that TDI ‘will benefit from all the money that will come from our golden air… I shall give them [TDI] some of the money that will come from the incoming calls when the system is put in place’. The minister is hopping here to tap into one of the major sources of income for the private telecoms in Somaliland, at no cost to himself. In my opinion, the chance of this succeeding is next to nothing. However, if the minister manages to achieve his musings, this will negatively impact on the economic development country and people will think twice before investing in the country.

The private telecoms companies were very reluctant in the past to interconnect and people and business suffered as a result. However, the private telecoms managed few months ago to interconnect on their own, and people can now communicate across the lines of the private telecoms with small additional costs. The private telecom companies are also willing to use a new county code if is given to Somaliland by International Telecommunications Union as told me by one of the chief executive officers of the private telecom companies. However, as rightly argued by the executive officer, country codes are not assigned to countries by private international companies as assumed by the minister of post and telecommunications but by the specialized UN agency of International Telecommunications Union.

The telecommunications dispute arose at a time when a new parliament led by the opposition parties was elected in and the people were hoping that the elected parliament would stimulate changes in the political governance of the country. In fact several powerful ministers, including the minister of interior, keep a very low profile nowadays to avoid losing their portfolios in the expected ministerial reshuffle by president Riyalle. In these times of uncertainty for unwieldy cabinet, the ministers’ clash and public exchanges with the private telecoms is politically incorrect at best.

The newly elected parliament would do well to conduct, as one of its first tasks, a thorough review of the foreign business deals that the successive governments of Somaliland struck. The parliament should also examine how the general public benefits from these deals.