Somaliland: Defrauding Scheme or Development Project
At this time, Somaliland’s development sentiment is affecting a wide range of industries, including tourism, natural resources, free trade zones, and border customs.
As Somaliland adopted the concept of a “free market” economic system, local and international businesses are eager to profit from the massive potential pie that represents Somaliland’s development.
Somalilanders strive hard first to have their bite with the creation of local companies providing key services for development with their limited resources and minimal expertise and second attempt to persuade foreign ones to invest in the country in order to meet the country’s development needs. However, it is not uncommon for a few to be set up for a purpose of plundering national riches while pretending to be the same as the many set up with good intentions.
If this is the case, the Somaliland government will be expected to be prepared for the massive waves coming from all directions seeking to be part of the machinery promising the delivery of such development in order to filter out the dubious from the real and design a framework for monitoring their operations.
“Vetting process for cabinet member moves as well as for government contractors yet to be embraced in Somaliland”
A substantial portion of Somaliland’s foreign aid development goes into the Somaliland Development Fund, which is together run by Somaliland and giver nations, and there is no space for the cash to be diverted or misappropriated. Furthermore, implementation of another minor portion of foreign aid is directly contracted with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by donor nations and is not subject to embezzlement.
Tax receipts in the government vaults are where the majority of corruption and theft of public funds occurs, and is being perpetrated by senior government officials under the guise of implementing projects or outsourcing contracts without any scrutiny and vetting process. The Somaliland Chronicle exposed massive corruption in the ministry of water development last week in its investigative report.
One of the major responsibilities of the government – at all levels – is to protect government revenue, the nation’s public and private wealth, and the country’s natural resources. A rigorous process for checking cabinet members whether their course of action is intended to defraud or discharge a duty and for vetting government contractors must be in place in the domain of implementing and outsourcing government services and development projects, otherwise Somaliland will become an easy target for individuals and small groups looking to take advantage of the country’s meager resources by using fake instruments in an unfair and devious manner.
The project of exploring precious metals and minerals in the Sahil region, which is being pushed by the Ministry of Minerals and Energy, has not been well researched and appears to be intended for public consumption in order to portray the ministry as being productive when, in reality, it is clear that the initiative will not yield any results.
The project in question – spearheaded by the Minerals and Energy ministry is, as claimed, part of a series of mineral and precious stones exploration projects launched by the ministry in 2020 and fully funded by the Somaliland government with taxpayer’s money. A local company in Somaliland cannot implement such sort of project, given the huge expertise and equipment required. These are the projects that are to be funded by foreign direct investments.
This company, Khalifa Engineering and Mining Services, has no previous work history, and was hired as a consultant by the Ministry of Minerals and Energy. Dawan, the state-run daily newspaper, has published a comprehensive piece on this project. According to the article, a total of 122 km2 of land in the Sahil region will be studied during the survey, which will last only for 45 days (about 1 and a half months) and include a study of the land scape and expected mineral potential. Mr. Jama Haji Mohamud Egal, Minister of Minerals and Energy of Somaliland, Director of the Ministry’s Mining Department, Omar Yusuf Omar, Berbera Mayor, Abdishakur Mohamud Idin, and the Sahil Governor – Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Hashi were the government officials who visited there that day.
Visiting this company’s site on the web raises numerous suspensions and provides insufficient data about the ventures completed, information, experience, and business history of its employees. According to the company’s website, it was formed in 2018 and its staff is mostly foreigners with no information whether they live in Somaliland or not.
It looks that the top officials whose duty it was to guarantee that the consulting firm hired was capable of executing the job didn’t bother to do their homework and are in bed with it.
The National Tender Board, on the other hand, has the responsibility of managing such contracts in a just, fair, and transparent manner by inviting bids from competent companies for any government project. Why this project did not go through the Tender Board is a question that needs to be asked. The way this project was managed could hint suspicions of corruption in the leadership of the Ministry of Minerals and Energy.
Somaliland needs to establish a politically neutral Central Development Authority with offices in all regions of the country, tasked with scrutinizing all development projects proposed by government ministries and screening all companies contracted with implementing these projects to ensure that no taxpayer funds are diverted or misused.
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author/authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Somaliland Intellectuals Institute (SII), its partners, or sponsors. SII is a non-partisan organization that seeks to publish well-argued, policy-oriented articles on Somaliland foreign policy and nation's priorities in education, healthcare, economy, energy, and infrastructure.