September 12, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
<
World Bank Warns Political Discord Could Derail Somalia’s Debt Relief Process
12 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 320 Words
Political disputes and fragmentation between the federal and state governments risks curtailing Somalia’s efforts at attaining debt relief, the World Bank has warned. Noting that growth in the Horn of Africa nation remains fragile, the global lender said in its third economic update for Somalia, that risks associated with reform delays are high in light of a slowed economic growth in 2017. “In turn, a slowdown on the reform path could delay the normalization of Somalia’s relations with the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) process which in turn would delay Somalia’s access to IDA and critical national investments,” the report notes. The International Development Association (IDA), is a part of the World Bank that provides grants and soft loans to the world’s poorest countries.
The report’s findings come amidst an ongoing political fallout between the federal government and the federal member states which last week declared they would cease cooperation with Mogadishu over a litany of accusations among them ‘interference and destabilization of state governments’.
It also remains unclear if the federal state leaders will attend the upcoming National Security Council meeting in Mogadishu scheduled for September 17 and 18 which President Mohamed Farmaajo convened the same day the federal state leaders announced cession of relations. The simmering tensions between the Executive and the Senate saw the latter skip a joint opening of the federal parliament last week further compounding escalating political disputes in the country.
According to the World Bank report, Somalia’s economy registered a subdued growth of 2.3 per cent owing to drought which cost the economy an estimated $3.2 billion in addition to sharp decline of livestock exports. Livestock exports fell by 75% reaching a low of 1.3 million live animals against a high of 5.3 million in 2015. The World Bank also identifies security concerns and higher oil prices as other risks that could delay growth.
Key Headlines
- World Bank Warns Political Discord Could Derail Somalia’s Debt Relief Process (Goobjoog News)
- Some Of The Elders Kidnapped By Al-Shabaab Escape From Custody (VOA Somalia)
- Lack Of Mobile Money Regulation Exposes Somali Economy To Macroeconomic Effects-World Bank (Halbeeg News)
- QFFD Funds Somalia’s Rehabilitation Project (Gulf Times)
- Telling The Stories Of Somalia’s Lost Warriors (Aljazeera)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Some Of The Elders Kidnapped By Al-Shabaab Escape From Custody
12 September – Source: VOA Somalia – 133 Words
Seven elders out of 61 elders abducted by Al-Shabaab earlier this month have managed to escape from their captors. The Al-Shabaab militant group rounded up the elders in Galmudug regions on the 4th of this month and kept them hostage in El-bur town. The Voice of America contacted the elders, who fled from Al-Shabaab, who however refused to give details of their escape or the fate of the remaining captives.
Separately, an elder in Guri-el town has already started mediation talks aimed at releasing the abducted elders. The elders are reported to be in bad health condition. Locals, who have contacted them, confirmed this development. The elders were arrested after members of their community failed to pay (Diya) penalty imposed by Al-Shabaab courts. The fine is imposed on clan members accused of murder.
Lack Of Mobile Money Regulation Exposes Somali Economy To Macroeconomic Effects-World Bank
12 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 481 Words
An estimated 155 million mobile money transactions amounting to about $2.7 billion a month take place in Somalia, the World Bank has said but raised the red flag over plausible fiscal risks in the event of disruption to mobile money platforms. In its third Somali Economic Update released Monday in Mogadishu, the World Bank noted that whereas mobile money platforms have immensely eased transactions and provided opportunities for economic growth, lack of regulation paused serious macroeconomic effects.
As mobile money represents a large share of the money supply, the report says, the domestic economy is highly dependent on the stability and continued operation of mobile money platforms. “Unmitigated disruption in service delivery including transient outages caused by technical glitches could be devastating for the livelihoods of the Somali population that depend on mobile money services to meet their daily needs,” the report notes.
The report which gives a detailed look into the risks and opportunities in mobile money in Somalia highlights three main risks the mobile money sector is exposed to in Somalia. First, since there is no legal requirement for mobile network operators to deposit funds in a trust or a bank account as a buffer, customers are exposed to risks of losing their money in the event providers enter into risky investments. “As the float held on the phones of mobile money users grows ever bigger, the temptation is for the mobile network operators to use those funds in risky investments or overseas transactions, as there is no requirement for them to hold funds in a trust fund or bank account.”
Secondly, the report notes the absence of know-your-customer requirements means customers are not protected in case of disputes. Further the ease of opening multiple mobile accounts without identification makes countering money laundering and tracking funding to terrorism activities difficult. The Central Bank of Somalia does not regulate mobile money sector leaving customers to no recourse in the event of malpractices by operators, the report adds.
To address these concerns, the report calls for a raft of measures to ensure mobile money sector is effectively regulated without stifling its growth. It proposes the amendment of the Financial Institutions Law of 2012 to expand CBS mandate to oversee regulation of emerging financial services such as mobile money. The roles and responsibilities of the various actors that are part of the mobile money system need to be clarified to ensure transparency and accountability and integrity of the financial sector, the report recommends.
It further calls for introduction of a mobile money regulatory regime to manage financial stability risks and bolster the contribution of mobile money to inclusive growth, resilience and poverty reduction. Regulation should be phased, the report says noting of priority is safeguarding the consumer funds and ensuring continued and undisrupted service delivery. Strengthening service delivery through innovation and consumer protection including data privacy and protection follow in tow.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
QFFD Funds Somalia’s Rehabilitation Project
12 September – Source: Gulf Times – 153 Words
Somalia Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre laid the cornerstone for the rehabilitation and building project of the ministry of planning, investment and economic development of the country funded by Qatar through Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD). This project is one of the development projects provided by Qatar to Somalia in accordance with the agreement signed by the two sides in November 2017 for the implementation of a number of projects in Somalia.
Somalia’s Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development Gamal Mohamed Hassan, Somalia’s Minister of Education, Culture and Higher Education Abdullahi Godah Barre, Qatar ambassador to Somalia Hassan bin Hamza Hashem, and a number of senior officials in Somalia attended the ceremony. During the ceremony, the Somali prime minister thanked Qatar for its continued support and expressed hope that the ministry building would be rebuilt within a year and called for Somali people to cooperate in the rehabilitation of federal government buildings.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“For me, documentary and community TV was also a way of preventing young people from joining radical groups and of letting them know that there were real consequences if they chose that road. I wanted my films to show that the whole family, and all of society, would pay the price if they chose a violent, anti-social path”
Telling The Stories Of Somalia’s Lost Warriors
11 September – Source: Aljazeera – 1807 Words
In 1991, a year after civil war broke out in Somalia, Nasib Farah fled Mogadishu. He was 10 years old and travelling without his parents, who had sent him with a group of older asylum seekers, telling him to pretend they were his family. “My parents simply wanted me to be safe. They wanted a better future for me,” he explains. Armed with just a few phone numbers and four English words – “I am a refugee” – he escaped across the border to Ethiopia, before flying to Germany and eventually settling in Denmark.
As a refugee and a black Muslim, he had to grapple with inequality and discrimination, but went on to create a non-profit organisation focused on helping other young Somalis through tutoring and after school activities. Then, wanting to tell the stories of the young people he met, Nasib started a community TV programme for the Somali community in Denmark. He began making documentaries he hoped would initiate deeper debates about integration, education, crime – and a topic many seemed to want to discuss – the reasons why some young Somalis were choosing to join armed groups.
Lost Warrior, Nasib’s second documentary with Danish filmmaker Soren Steen Jespersen, tells the story of Mohammed, a young British Somali man deported from the UK to Somalia after serving a prison sentence for drug-related offences. Back in the country he fled at the age of three, Mohammed is recruited into the armed group Al-Shabaab. But he defects after witnessing acts of violence and the film picks up with him as he tries to live under the radar in Mogadishu while attempting to reunite with his wife and son in the UK.
Q&A with Nasib Farah; Al Jazeera: What do you remember about the civil war in Somalia? Farah: I don’t want to remember the things I saw. People were dying all around us. If we were going to the market or to a neighbour’s home, we had to walk past dead bodies that nobody dared to collect from the streets. The stench was unimaginable. I remember it to this day. People died like it was nothing. I saw people’s eyes being gouged out. Some people had their ears cut off or were tortured in front of us. I don’t want to remember that time.
TOP TWEETS
@Hamza_Africa: Bodies of two soldiers seen on the streets of the small Al Shabaab-held town of Mubarak, Somalia following a raid last night by Somali special forces backed by foreign troops. At least two helicopters involved in the raid.
@i_dossier: The Islamic Development Bank freezes a multi-million dollar project in Somalia after audit discovered mismanagement, lack of compliance w financial agreement. Somali Govt detained the project coordinator and vowed to prosecute him @i_dossier investigates.
@JIbrahimj: Why Somalia cannot Join Kenya as one ‘Unit’http://www.somtribune.com/
@radiogarowe: #Somalia‘s Intel agency @HSNQ_NISA claims it killed #AlShabaab member, hurt several in #Mubarak and foiled an attack against #Mogadishu. https://www.garoweonline.com/
@AbdirizakOm: Islamic Development Bank freezes Dryland project due to corruption by the Ministry of Finance. Experts question why the project is not accounted in the 2018 budget. Thanks
@HarunMaruf @i_dossier for exposing such blatant mismanagement at the top
https://www.caasimada.net/
@SomaliaToday1: Somali police nab 4 al-Shabab militants in Mogadishu, http://www.somaliatoday.so/
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo is welcomed at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa by the new President of Ethiopia’s Somali Region, Mustafa Omar.
Photo: @BJuweira