The backlash that followed the President’s signing of the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill into law has claimed its first major political casualty, the Chairman of the Ruling party’s Central Committee Mr Jama Ismail Egeh (Shabeel).
Mr Shabeel with other national parties voicing opposition to the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill
Mr. Shabeel has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill which he characterized as a foreign concept that did not originate in Somaliland but rather imported from other cultures. He specifically spoke on some wording that he attributed to endorsing homosexuality.
Somaliland Chronicle has not reviewed the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill and is not in a position to substantiate Mr Shabeel’s claims about the Bill.
The opposition to the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill has dominated the news cycle in Somaliland and forced the government of President Muse Bihi Abdi to back peddle promising to give the contents of the legislation a more through review.
Somaliland Minister of Endowment and Religious Affairs promises review of Rape and Sexual Offences Bill
Though technically the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill is now is the law of the land, the government acknowledged gaps in how it was developed, corrections and comments from religious scholars and legislators were omitted before it landed on the President’s desk for signature, and promised to review all aspects of it according to the Minister of Endowment and Religious Affairs.
The bill has passed the senate and parliament back in April 2018 and was signed into law (Law No. 80/2018) by President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi on August 28 2018.
Somaliland Senate vote for the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill
Kulmiye Secretary General Mr Hassan Saeed
The Ruling Party’s dismissal letter of Mr Shabeel has not directly addressed his opposition of the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill but cited other unspecified instances of being in direct conflict with the party and the government’s policies. Mr Shabeel has been trading verbal jabs with other Kulmiye officials via multiple media appearances.
It is not a secret that Somaliland legislators have not created many bills in recent memory and most legislation that it votes on have been wholly created and drafted by INGO and UN agencies, however, this is the first bill that created a major political headache for the new President.
Director General of the Presidency Mr Mohamed Ali Bile with President Muse Bihi Abdi
So far, no government official has been held responsible, including the Ministers of Endowment and Religious Affairs and Constitutional Affairs, the President’s own gatekeepers Mr Mohamed Ali Bile and Mubarak Taani for how this bill ended up on the President’s desk and got signed into law without proper vetting and ensuring all amendments, comments and corrections are incorporated.
President’s Secretary Mr. Mubarak Taani
High ranking members in Kulmiye who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that the Party’s Chairman is still the President of Somaliland and without his approval Mr Shabeel wouldn’t have been dismissed. We are unable to confirm if the President is still involved in the party’s day to day activities or if he was made aware of the Party cutting ties with Mr Shabeel.
Mr Shabeel disputes the manner of his dismissal and has threatened legal and other unspecified actions.
Continuing our Evaluate Your Mayor series, today, we are conducting our another poll to gauge the public opinion on the performance of Burao Mayor Mohamed Yusuf Murad and Burao City Council. The Poll is open until midnight September 30 and will publish the results as soon as it closes.
Diplomatic sources in Djibouti confirm to Somaliland Chronicle that on the 21st of September, Saudi Arabia’s deputy chief of directorate of intelligence known as Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah Major General Ahmad Hassan Mohammad Asiri, has visited Somaliland and met with President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi.
The highly secretive meeting between President Muse Bihi Abdi and General Ahmad Hassan Mohammad Asiri is another sign of newly energized diplomatic overtures by the Kingdom to Somaliland. Vice President Saylici was among King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s guests during his recent visit to Hajj pilgrimage.
There has been no official word from the governments of Somaliland and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding Major General Ahmad Hassan Mohammad Asiri visit to Somaliland and meeting with President Muse Bihi Abdi.
Flight logs for the 21st of September to Egal International Airport (HGA) did not show any chartered flights from Saudi Arabia but our sources indicate that General Asiri came via Djibouti on a commercial flight.
Vice President Saylici’s delegation in Jeddah
A high ranking member of President Bihi’s administration who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed General Asiri’s visit to Somaliland “KSA is very interested in a military base in Berbera along side its ally, the United Arab Emirates and if all goes well, President Muse Bihi Abdi will be heading to Jeddah to meet Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman” he said.
King Salman with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (R) and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki
A member of an opposition party who accompanied Vice President Saylici to Saudi Arabia, could not confirm General Asiri’s meeting stated “The Saudis are very interested in Somaliland and based on their 1.789 trillion dollar economy which dwarfs the Emirates’, any terms they offer will be far superior and it does not hurt they can tell anyone in the region what to think and whom to like. So if this is a good thing for Somaliland, we just got to play our cards right”
The results of our week long poll to evaluate Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco) and Hargeisa City Council performance rating through public polling are finally here!
Number of Participants
3,567
Poll Duration
7 Days
Poll Method
Online
A total of 12.1% of respondents approve of Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco) handling of his job while 87.9% disapprove.
Hargeisa City Council has a job approval rating of 11.2% v 88.8% disapprove of how the Council has handled its job.
9% of respondents favor Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco) for a second term as a Mayor.
88.3% of respondents have unfavorable view of Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco) honesty and trustworthiness.
Only 11.3% of respondents approve the Mayor’s handling of water services in Hargeisa.
On this question, only 14.9% of respondents agree that their property taxes are used for their intended purposes without corruption, while 85.1% disagree or strongly disagree.
Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco) has cited new road construction as one of his greatest accomplishments, however 83.4% of respondents do not agree.
Only 12.7% of respondents are satisfied by the basic services they receive from Hargeisa Municipality, while 87.4% are either unsatisfied or very unsatisfied.
While we are unsure of Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco)’s future political ambition, 92.3% of respondents will not elect him as President.
Zamzam Abdi Adan with other government official at the launch ceremony of SLFMIS
There have been numerous reports of impropriety at the Ministry of Finance related to the PFM project during the tenure of the former Minister Zamzam Abdi Adan.
President Muse Bihi Abdi with current Minister of Yusuf Mahamed Abdi
New security vulnerabilities are routinely discovered on everything from windows on consumer grade laptops to a system running an important national infrastructure such as the SLFMIS. Unfortunately, 90% of all hacking incidents involved a security flaw.
We have consulted cyber security professionals to confirm if indeed there are security vulnerabilities as reported, and they have confirmed that in fact there are numerous vulnerability are critical and need immediate attention or the system should be taken offline and added that only a low level of expertise is required to exploit and access the system.
“Not sure how much was spent to create this system, but it appears whoever designed it has a tenuous grasp of today’s cyber security risks and has not put any controls in place to protect this system” said an IT professional who was briefed on this issue.
The experts we consulted confirmed that Somaliland’s SLFMIS would not have passed minimum security standards in any small to medium company let alone critical government infrastructure.
Side by side, Somaliland’s SLFMIS and Somalia’s Revenue Collection System
SLFMIS has been implemented and hosted by PFM Smart. There is a little information about this company whom one of Somaliland’s most valuable data sources resides with but what is clear is that it also implemented Somalia’s Revenue Collection System and is hosting it on the same network as SLFMIS.
Somaliland government has a history of using unscrupulous foreign companies often established solely for the purpose of the project at hand, PFM Smart seems to be one of those.
Minister of Finance meeting
On Monday, the Minister of Finance Yusuf Mahamed Abdi has met with yet another foreign company called OBM which works with the ministry on financial reform. It is unclear if this company is related to the PFM.
Somaliland Chronicle has reported and shared our findings with high ranking members of Somaliland government to get the right resources tasked for immediate remediation. Somaliland Chronicle will not discuss the nature of the vulnerability due to its national security implication.
Today, we are conducting a poll to gauge the public opinion on the performance of Mayor Abdirahman Mahmoud Aidiid (Soltelco) and Hargeisa City Council. The Poll is open until midnight September 22 and will publish the results as soon as it closes.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Somaliland, His Excellency Dr. Saad Ali Shire discusses the current course of Somaliland’s diplomacy, changes in the region and Vice President’s visit to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and many more topics.
Dr Saad Ali Shire addressing Chatham House
Somaliland Chronicle:Let’s get one thing out of the way; Are you the right man for the job of Somaliland’s Chief Diplomat? And why?
Dr. Saad Ali Shire:Whether I am the right man for the job is a matter for the commander in chief. But what I can say is that I have some critical skills for the job: I am hardworking, strategic, good manager, results oriented, calculating and cool. I have good writing skills and fluent in English. I also speak Spanish, Italian, Arabic and French in various degrees, and I have over 30 years of experience in foreign countries.
Dr. Shire addressing the media with UN Special Envoy Michael Keating
Somaliland Chronicle:There is a lot happening around the region, Somalia Eritrea, Ethiopia and now Djibouti seem to be all on the same page, and are signing all sorts of agreements with one another. What kind of impact do you think this will have on Somaliland and possibly its sovereignty?
Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn transferring power to Dr Abiy Ahmed
Dr. Saad Ali Shire:Everything and every change that takes place in the Horn of Africa will affect us either positively or negatively, either in the long term or in the short term. The changes ushered by Dr. Abiy are:
Political i. Peaceful resolution of conflict ii. Respect for human rights iii. Release of political prisoners iv. Reconciliation with opposition groups e.g. ONLF. v. The establishment of a new government in the Somali region vi. Eritrea membership of the IGAD
Economical i. Privatization of public companies ii. Economic integration iii. Multinational port concessions
Strategic i. Realignment of internal and external allies ii. Oromo and Eritrea rapprochement, iii. Opening of borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea iv. Ethiopian access to Eritrean ports
Security i. Peace deal between Eritrea and Djibouti ii. Down grading of the lieu police force iii. Conflict between ethnic communities iv. Instability
Peaceful resolution of conflict, economic integration, restoration of law and order, respect for human rights, and disbandment of the notorious lieu security forces are all positive developments that are beneficial. It also possible that the regional and international community will focus more on the problem between Somaliland and Somalia once other outstanding issues in the Horn are cleared. Of course, the reform is still in process, and if at any stage security breaks down that will have serious implications for us.
Dr Saad Ali Shire with DP World and Ethiopian Officials
Somaliland Chronicle: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed has visited or met with every leader in the region and has yet to mention Somaliland and in some of his speeches seemed to favor greater Somalia. Any concern that Dr Abiy may not have Somaliland’s best interest at heart?
Dr. Saad Ali Shire:The fact that our president has not yet met the Prime Minister raises questions, but as far as our working relationship at the ground level is concerned nothing has changed, and the signals and the messages we are getting indicate that Ethiopia still considers Somaliland as a valuable partner. We will know exactly what the position of the prime minister is when we meet him.
Somaliland Chronicle: With the end of hostilities with Eritrea, Ethiopia has now access to a much closer and frankly better port facilities than Berbera, do you think they will fulfill their commitment to developing the Berbera corridor? If not, are we rethinking the 19% stake they hold in Berbera DP World deal?
President of Eritria Isaiah Afewerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sign peace agreement
Dr. Saad Ali Shire:Ethiopia is a huge country that is growing fast in terms of population and economy. The population is growing at the rate of 3% which means it will double to 204 million by 2042. Its economy is growing fast at 7-10%, which means, if you take the midpoint, it will double to reach $160 billion nine years from now by 2027. Hence, it will need more ports than Djibouti, Assab and Berbera to handle its external trade. It is not a zero sum game. Berbera can only gain from the increasing demand. You have to understand that Ethiopia has two main population centers – east and west, and Berbera will positioned to serve the eastern wing. As far their share and interest in the port of Berbera is concerned, noting has changed up to now.
Somaliland Chronicle: The Vice President’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia for Hajj and official business showed Somaliland in an elevated diplomatic status in the Kingdom, could you tell us more about the famous handshake and where we go from here with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
Somaliland Vice President Abdirahman Saylici meeting Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Saudi investors
Dr. Saad Ali Shire:I think the high level protocol awarded to the Vice President indicated how much Saudi Arabia values its relationship with Somaliland. Saudi Arabia is an extremely important country for us. It is the number one importer of our main export, live stock. The foreign currency we earn from this trade plus the remittance of our Diaspora is what pays for our large import bill. We greatly appreciate the warm welcome extended to our vice president and thank the King for the royal reception.
Somaliland Chronicle: This is probably not the first time you are being asked this question, but there are some reports that Russia is interested in Somaliland for naval base while some have recently urged the US to recognize Somaliland before Russia does. Are we open to speaking with the Russians about giving them the base in exchange of our recognition?
Dr. Saad Ali Shire:We are an independent country, though not yet fully recognized, and our diplomatic doors are open to all including Russia. But the fact of the matter is that Russia has not yet approached us to talk to us about bases. It is all speculation.
Somaliland Chronicle: Back to Ethiopia and the Somali zone, there are lot of inhabitants with roots in Somaliland on that side of the border, is Somaliland doing anything to bolster and help them take part in the political process in Ethiopia?
Dr. Saad Ali Shire: As you rightly said, the people of Hawd and Reserved Area of Somali Region of Ethiopia, hail from Somaliland, and Somaliland has naturally vested interest in the new developments in the region. We would like to see the region peaceful, stable and more development programs coming its way. We would like also to see more cross border trade for the benefit of both sides.
Somaliland Chronicle: If and when talk with Somalia resume, can you assure Somalilanders that our sovereignty is not up for discussion?
Somaliland – Somalia talk in Ankara back in May 2016
Dr. Saad Ali Shire: In this type of negotiation, naturally sovereignty will be discussed, but it will not be given away by the negotiators. It is a constitutional matter. It will be for the public to decide on anything that might compromise their sovereignty.
Somaliland Chronicle: Finally, you have served Somaliland with distinction, could you share with us your future political ambitions, seeking a higher office perhaps?
Dr. Saad Ali Shire: My honest answer at this moment is that I have no ambition to seek higher political office. But I will keep serving my nation as long as I am alive as a citizen.
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire took an unusual step of writing what can only be described as a fantasy short story on the Kenyan Daily Nation paper. It is not particularly good but shows a level of delirium not generally attributed to younger people.
Mukhtar Robow former deputy of Alshabaab terrorist network
Mr Khaire’s opens with a whopper of a lie “The recent amnesty has seen leaders of many terrorist groups defect to the government and help in nation building” is not only misleading but the only known high value personality to defect Alshabaab is Mukhtar Robow. At the time of his surrender, he has been separated from Alshabaab for over five years. Mr Robow had a falling out with Alshabab that saw his influence diminish and accepted the amnesty to ensure his safety.
Mr Robow does not have a role in Somalia’s Federal Government.
One of the many passports held by Deputy Director of Somali Intelligence Services
There is however an interesting high-ranking official in Khaire’s government, Mr Ahmed Fahad Dahir, the deputy director of Somali Intelligence Agency. Mr Dahir is known to have ties with extremist networks and is under investigation by Kenyan authorities on how he come to posses multiple Kenyan passports. It is unclear if Mr Khaire is referring to Mr Fahad Dahir as a rehabilitated terrorist. The Daily Nation was one of the papers that wrote about this mystery man.
Mr Khaire writing which lacks discernible direction and clarity has three sections titled Peace Deal, Security and Terrorism.
He goes on to describe events related to cessation of hostilities between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. Somalia’s fall out with Eritrea was based solely its wars with Djibouti and Ethiopia and becoming an pariah state of the day.
The security and terrorism sections have canned paragraphs about blowing winds, quests and (dragons?) and what about terrorism? there is a single sentence that eludes to terrorists being on the retreat. Au contraire, Alshabaab is gaining ground in Somalia especially in Mogadishu and its surrounding areas.
Source CNN
According to CNN, Washington Post and other news outlets, Alshabaab is running a more effective, albeit shadow government in of all places Mogadishu that includes a court system and levying tax on businesses.
From January 1st 2017 to date, there has been 70 attacks and 1,044 fatalities in Mogadishu by Alshabaab. Keyword is Mogadishu, the toll is much higher for the rest of Somalia.
Al-Shabab displays fighters during Tuesday’s Eid celebrations in central and southern regions. The uniform wore by some of them, including Waali of Jubba regions Abu Abdalla, is strikingly identical to the newest uniform used by the 14th Oct battalion of Govt forces. Coincidence? pic.twitter.com/rh3O7UIbAA
Counterfeit or fake medications kill more than hundred of thousands of people around the world a year according to World Health Organization, we will give you a minute to let that sink in.
This is not a problem for third world countries or unrecognized republics like Somaliland, where deaths related to counterfeit medications are not detected or recorded; this is a problem for almost any country including the United States, Germany and many other tier one economies.
An example of counterfeit Lipitor
Counterfeit drugs are simply too lucrative and are indiscriminate silent killers. In fact in certain war-torn countries like Somalia, it is estimated that counterfeit or fake drugs kill more people than Al-Shabaab.
Drug forgers spend very little to produce fake drugs, and effective forgers spend maximum effort to ensure their products are indistinguishable from the authentic drugs. In most cases, even experts and medical professional can’t tell the difference without specialized equipment and expensive lab analysis.
Even President Duterte has now made a priority for the Philippines to go after fake drugs. It’s important to remember that this is a leader that has been accused by many right organizations for blatant violation of human right and extra judiciously executing suspected drug deals. Even he thinks counterfeit medications are a problem.
Counterfeit Medications 101
Public service announcement by Bayer pharmaceutical giant.
Employees from Ivory Coast’s health ministry raid a shop selling counterfeit drugs at the Adjame market in Abidjan
Counterfeit medications generally fall in two categories, where one will have absolutely no active ingredients of the original drug and are made of all sorts of material from flour to ash and anything the counterfeiters can get their hands on. The sanitary conditions of the labs can be very sketchy at best.
The other category, may come from a source with pharmacological knowledge and generally contains some active ingredients though commonly the dosage is almost always incorrect to be effective.
Here is a program that eared on ABC 20/20 where authorities are searching and are finding a shocking amount of counterfeit drugs in Los Angeles California.
Huge Profits
Mubaarak promotional photo
Sale of pharmaceuticals in Somaliland is a huge multi million dollar business, and consumers prefer medications advertised as imported from Europe or North America.
Alla-Amin Medicine Stockroom
According to a practicing physician from Somaliland who lives in Sweden and has visually examined medications by Novo Nordisk, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and Pfizer he has seen in Somaliland, and though he could not confirm if the drugs were counterfeit or authentic, he simply could not believe those medications are cheaper in Hargeisa than Gothenburg Sweden.
A good indicator of counterfeit drugs is often the steep discount relative to the their authentic versions.
Inulatard Insulin from Novo Nordisk on Sale by Alla Aamin Pharmacy
There is also a partial explanation for the price difference, the Ministry of Health receives donation of authentic medications from international aid agencies to Hargeisa Group Hospital.
According to employees and others with intimate knowledge of the Ministry of Health and the medical storage facility in Hargeisa, some of these donated drugs end up being sold on the open market.
So where is Somaliland Government in all of this? Is there an Agency in charge of overseeing drug safety? And how easy is it to import medicine into Somaliland?
We are glad you asked! The good news is that Somaliland Government has had a Quality Control Commission for several years, the bad news? The Quality Control Commission does not have the expertise, the equipment, budget or enforcement operation to detect and stop counterfeit medication from entering in Somaliland markets.
There are very few instances of the QCC confiscating and publicly incinerating expired drugs in the past and the new commissioner out investigators could not locate any instance where the commission has detected counterfeit medication.
Since the inauguration of HE Muse Bihi Abdi and the appointment of the new Commissioner of the Quality Control Commission Musa Hassan Yousuf, there has been a single case where the QCC has confiscated an expired shipment of soft drinks.
Once again, pharmaceutical import or sale is an extremely lucrative business which has the potential of attracting unscrupulous folks but the lack of discernible government quality control and verification over import of medication in Somaliland lead us to believe there are both counterfeit and or sub par medications in Somaliland.
Somaliland QCC Commissioner
According to sources, Somaliland’s QCC Commissioner and the Minister of Commerce have both reportedly approached international donors for assistance on establishment of drug quality control complete with equipment, training and funding but so far there has been no commitment from international community on this request
What are the chances that counterfeit medication have already caused lives in Somaliland? Who is responsible for any loss of live and injury resulted from counterfeit medication?
Somaliland Vice President HE Abdirahman Abdallahi Ismail Saylici and a high level delegation consisting of ministers and members of the opposition parties met with Saudi investors and commissioners of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce. Saudi Arabia’s oldest chamber of commerce established in 1946.
Vice President Saylici extended an official visit to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and the Saudi investors to come to Somaliland to evaluate the multitude of investment opportunities including agriculture, fisheries and livestock export.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest economies in the world and opening up a fraction of it to Somaliland in direct trade for fish and seafood will have a huge impact on Somaliland’s economy.
Somaliland’s proximity to the Kingdom is another strategic advantage over other farflung trading partners such as Brasil, New Zealand and Australia which are its top trading partners for livestock and other meat products.
Additionally, Somaliland’s peace and established rule of law makes it much more attractive relative to Somalia where supply of livestock to the Kingdom are routinely disrupted by ongoing hostilities.
President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi has set development of livestock and fisheries as a national priority and any possible investment and effort to expand exports to Saudi Arabic will require proper veterinary and introduction of commercial fishing to Somaliland to meet the demand from the Kingdom and avoid past issues where the Saudi’s unilaterally banned livestock imports from Somaliland.
The meeting with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce follows the Vice Presidents completion of Hajj in Mecca where together with leaders of the Muslim world he met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The optics of Vice President shaking hands with the King was a much discussed event that many Somalilanders saw as yet another sign of being accepted into the fold of world nations however unofficial.
Somaliland has enjoyed a sporadic diplomatic glimmers of hope from the United Arab Emirates following the signing of the DP World and the Berbera Airport deals.
During his stay, Vice President Saylici also met with Somaliland’s diaspora.
