March 20, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Jawari Ouster Not Sanctioned By Government But A Defense Strategy – Dalha
20 March – Source: Goobjoog News – 322 Words
The motion against Lower House Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari is not government sanctioned, an MP supporting the Speaker’s has said but noted it was in ‘defense of an impending motion from our opponents’. The outspoken and long time serving MP Mohamed Dalha told Goobjoog News, the government is not officially behind the motion despite major support from government ministers. “This motion is not sanctioned at official level by the government,” MP Dalha said. “It came up because we had prior information the other side was preparing a motion against the Prime Minister.”
The lawmaker said a major presence of ministers did not necessarily indicate the motion, which failed last week, after suffering a quorum hitch has the blessings of the government noting, ‘ministers are also MPs and can act in that capacity’. A lawmaker told reporters on Monday, Speaker Jawari had put President Mohamed Farmaajo on the defense on Sunday, demanding whether the motion had the nod of the government. Prime Minister Hassan Khaire has publicly not spoken about the motion, but Speaker Jawari on the other hand has held three media conferences since the motion emerged last week.
MP Dalha’s remarks follow a meeting yesterday in a city hotel by pro-motion MPs and ministers, who expressed optimism, had marshaled the numbers to unseat Jawari. But opposition MP Mohamed Fiqi dismissed the numbers claim, noting the pro-Khaire team still had a long shot to deliver a win when the motion is tabled in the House. “They said they secured 84 signatures yesterday but we know most of the MPs were coerced by the ministers to attend the meeting,” MP Fiqi said. According to the article 64 (4), the speaker and deputies may be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the members of the House of the People. A two thirds of the Lower House translates to 183 MPs. MP Fiqi said his faction only needed 92 MPs to shield off the motion.
Key Headlines
- Jawari Ouster Not Sanctioned By Government But A Defense Strategy – Dalha (Goobjoog News)
- Mogadishu Mayor Meets Italian Officials Over IDP Resettlement (Halbeeg News)
- Al-Shabaab Militants Withdraw From Burdhubo Town (Radio Shabelle)
- East African Ministers To Meet In Kenya Over Somali Refugees (Xinhuanet)
- Is Somalia Really A Rising Nation? (Wardheer News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Mayor Meets Italian Officials Over IDP Resettlement
20 March – Source: Halbeeg News – 220 Words
Mogadishu mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman on Monday held talks with Italian officials over Internally Displaced People (IDPs) resettlement and development projects in Mogadishu. Mr. Osman received Italian Special Envoy to Somalia, Luciano Pezzotti at Mogadishu’s local government headquarters, Ufficio Governo.
The leaders discussed on wide range issues including the current security situation of the country, how Italy could support Mogadishu and reviving the capital city’s relations with Italian towns. “I had a fruitful meeting with the Italian Special Envoy to Horn of Africa H.E. Luciano Pezzotti in ‘Ufficio Governo’ ” said Osman in his Twitter post.
The mayor also met with the Italian ambassador to Somalia, Mr. Carlo Campanile over the resettlement of Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Mogadishu, according to Somali National News Agency. SONNA quoting the mayor said the leaders agreed to step up the process of relocating over half a million IDPs.
Mogadishu hosts thousands of IDPs who fled from other towns of the nation over drought and the ongoing fight against Al-Shabab. In December last year, over 4,000 IDP families were allegedly evicted in the outskirt of Mogadishu by Somali government, according to United Nations.
Somali government immediately responded to the allegations by launching investigation into the incident. Outcome of the probe which was conducted by the ministry of Planning has not been yet released.
Al-Shabaab Militants Withdraw From Burdhubo Town
20 March – Source: Radio Shabelle – 127 Words
The Al-Qaeda-aligned Al-Shabaab militants have withdrawn from Burdhubo district in Gedo region in Southern Somalia, hours after it capturing it from Somali troops on Monday night. The residents in the town have told Radio Shabelle region that Al-Shabaab battle-wagons loaded with their weapons had been seen leaving since the morning.
Ethiopian troops, serving under African Union mission in Somalia, known as [AMISOM] and Somali government forces retook control of the town shortly after Al-Shabaab pull out. The situation has returned to normal as the allied forces secured the town and carried out a mine clearing operation following their comeback, according to the locals. Al-Shabaab has lost control of several small towns, in the past years but still controls large swathes of territory in rural areas.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
East African Ministers To Meet In Kenya Over Somali Refugees
20 March – Source: Xinhuanet – 141 Words
Ministers from the Eastern African regional bloc IGAD will meet in Nairobi on Thursday on the status of 1 million Somali refugees displaced by nearly three decades of fighting. The ministers from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) will review progress in implementing the Nairobi Declaration and Action Plan on Durable Solutions for Somali Refugees and Reintegration of Returnees in Somalia, the bloc said in a statement issued on Monday.
“An update report and another one on the mapping exercise of current and planned humanitarian and development investments linked to the Nairobi Plan of Action will be presented and discussed at the meeting,” IGAD said.
IGAD said the ministers are expected to produce key actions for the implementation of the Nairobi Declaration and Plan of Action developed a year ago, as well as secure technical and financial commitments from development partners.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“Whenever the economy is severely under capacity as is ours at the moment, it invariably necessitates spending by the government to expand the tax base, by which at the same time through economic activity (multiplier effects) will favourably raise tax revenues consistent with standard arithmetic progression,”
Is Somalia Really A Rising Nation?
16 March – Source: Wardheer News – 858 Words
Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre in his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on 22 September 2017 made the following statement: “We will continue to formulate measures to strengthen Somalia’s progress including in revenue generation, however, there are some serious challenges beyond the control of the Somali government. Debt relief would have the effect of unlocking concessional financing, attracting foreign investment and providing an opportunity that is critical to sustaining our reform efforts and consequently reinvigorate our economy.”
Reviewing the 2017 Budget Proclamation of the Federal Government of Somalia, however, deals a big blow to the prime minister’s credibility in reducing Somalia’s economic challenges to lack of government revenues and investment ensuing from its inability to borrow. We’ll make here a brief independent overview of the government budget in order to assess what it means for future investment and general prosperity of the country. I won’t bore you with the specific details and budgetary appropriation for various government departments, because there’s no end to its inappropriate priorities and systematic mismanagement of resources. Suffice to note that Somalia has one of the lowest budgets in the world; indeed the lowest of any country worthy of that epithet and by any account, this budget would make an embarrassing reading to anyone.
More worrying than the size of the budget is the little prospect of seeing any significant progress judging by its current trajectory of what we have witnessed over the past five years (figure 1). Average annual budget since 2013 was $203 million – representing 55% domestic revenues and 45% donor funding over that period (figure 2), with projected $19.2 million net increase year-on-year over previous budget. This corresponds to 6% growth of domestic revenues, but even accounting for potential windfalls from air navigation charges following a transfer of Somali airspace control, it will still not be enough to absorb $5.8 million reduction in donor funding whilst at the same time boosting domestic revenues by $25 million. There will be a gap between planned and realised budget that is highly doubtful whether improving revenue collection efficiencies alone would suffice to fill.
The one caveat we should mention here is that we assume Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates will continue supporting Somalia with their direct budgetary contributions as they are, along with Turkey and Norway, top contributing donor funding countries of government budget. Even though these sums are peanuts from the perspective of government accounts, it’s not by far the biggest shortcoming of 2017 enacted budget. There are numerous other issues, but we will restrict this evaluation to the shocking absence of clear and coherent strategy, policy formulation or a tangible economic philosophy that this government aspires to achieve. Let’s take a closer look at few examples of what that exactly entails, before concluding our observations on how we see this will impact on the country’s future.
TOP TWEETS
@HarunMaruf: Harun Maruf Retweeted Guleid Ahmed Jama, Somaliland bill on rape was already approved by the House of Representatives.
@TC_Mogadishu:Useful discussion with Hon Mahad Salad
@DalsanFM: Gov’t Soldier, Civilian Shot Dead In Mogadishu –http://radiodalsan.com/en/
@Goobjoognews: JAWARI OUSTER not sanctioned by government but a defense strategy-Dalha.
@TC_Mogadishu: Paid courtesy visits to SPF Commissioner Brig. Gen. Bashir A. Mohamed and NISA DG Hussein O. Hussein. Developing further institutional capacities of NISA and SPF is crucial in fighting terrorism.
@DalsanFM: #Somalia #Gedo administration say SNA forces have retaken the town of Bur Dhubo after it was temporarily by#AlShabaab in overnight fighting. DC Hassan Mohamed Ali confirmed Casualties.
@Goobjoognews: HOW AN Ethiopia-backed port is changing power dynamics in the Horn of Africa.
@engyarisow: I had fruitful mtg with the Italian Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa H.E. Luciano Pezzotti in “Officio Governo”
@SomaliPM: It was a great feeling to have spent my evening watching a football tournament between youths in Hodan district. Sport unifies the community and it is one of the activity that makes our youths to be more actively engaged. @hon_khadija@Cantoobo
#NabadiyoNolol
@TC_Mogadishu: Attorney General Ahmed A. Dahir and his able staff have made great job in terms of capacity building of the Office of AG during the last years.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Mayor of Banadir, Abdirahman Omar Osman (Eng. Yarisow) met with the Italian Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, H.E. Luciano Pezzotti in Mogadishu.
Photo: @engyarisow