Press Release: Republic of Somaliland Ministry of Finance, Fiscal Policy And Reform Management Unit

Ref:  Press Release In response to the allegation and accusation by Hatuf on 23th April. The allegations can be divided into two main categories.

1. Baseless personal attacks intended to character assassinate targeted individuals and that will have its day in court.

2. Misinformation intended to scare International Organizations that support the nation building of this country.

First what are the facts on the ground?

The defunct “JNA project” which is now replaced with “RDP” was associated with the Ministry of Planning and the Fiscal Policy and Reform Unit is under the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Planning has amply clarified the facts from the lies as far as the JNA is concerned. We can only add at this time that the Ministry of Finance has nothing to do with the JNA Project in any direct way.

Mixing the two projects is either a total ignorance of how things work with the UN institutions or else it is a calculated misinformation to harm both the good will of the UN institutions and that of the Ministry of Finance. The UN institutions do not work in a black market or intentionally collude with any party to defraud public funds in that manner. Under the dire financial crisis in which the country is going through, the UNDP and UN institutions gave us a helping hand and we should be grateful for that.

Although we believe that Haatuf’s intentions were malicious and intended to misguide and there is no reason to respond to such baseless accusations, yet we feel duty bound to clarify our stand on the issue in terms of what we do here in the Ministry of Finance and in relation to the FP-RM Unit which is supported by the UNDP.

The FP-RM project is not worth millions of dollars as Haatuf alleged but worth a fraction of that which is exactly US $ 240,200. The entire amount is basically earmarked for the salaries of a large staff who have been recruited to the Ministry of Finance, the Auditor General and the Accountant General office to implement the project. It is worthwhile to remind ourselves the long standing criticism against the modalities of donor assistance to Somaliland which used to be outside the government modality, however, the overall thrust of Somaliland’s development and reconstruction has been to move away from humanitarian interventions towards a long term development under the government leadership. This is a move we sought and must welcome it instead of stigmatizing it.

The allegations amount to nothing more than a scaring tactic against Donor countries, UN agencies and international NGOs in dealing and helping Somaliland’s efforts in nation building which is very unfortunate. This is the first time the UNDP heeded to our call for a government directed projects and the project in question is part and parcel of a group of projects being implemented under the umbrella of the Somaliland Institutional Development Projects (SIDP).

As far as the FP-RM is concerned, the following information should separate the facts from the fiction.

To start with the FPRM project is intended to help the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Somaliland and was started within the Ministry of planning with the collaboration of the Ministry of Finance and the UNDP where the project incubated initially. Since the FP-RM project was basically to help the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, it was mutually decided to put it wholly under the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry of Finance and the UNDP therefore together undertook the Institutional Development Project where UNDP retained the overall responsibility for the program/project and has designated a project coordinator.

The Project was intended to:

  Build the capacity of the Ministry of Finance and the Integrity Institutions so that the management of public resources is transparent and accountable and are consistent with international standards.

  Provide Somaliland expertise to the Ministry of Finance to build a transparent system of resources mobilization, preparation, execution, monitoring and evaluation.

  Create an effective Central Bank capable of formulating efficient monetary policy.

  To establish financial system that offers businesses and individuals’ access to credit and other financial services.

  To spearhead an improved budget formulation which is predictable, controllable and executable and to improve the budget classifications consistent with basic international standards?

  To improve inter- and intra-sectoral resource allocation by effectively developing sound prioritization criteria for all expenditures.

  To improve tax collection by expanding the tax base and its equity. The integrity institutions; Accountant General and Auditor General Following components are included in the project:

  To start with, the project recruited 9 young university graduates. The young academic recruits will be introduced to computer-assisted audit and accounting techniques and adopt current audit and accounting standards to modernize operations, extend scope and coverage of operations, and spear-head the modernization of the office of the accountant and auditor General;

  The project is intended to offer training grounds for the new recruits and other member’s of staff of integrity institution so as to make them more competent, effective and efficient in service delivery. 

  Training in abroad, twinning arrangements and study tours and continued capacity building are supposed to expose staff to international accounting and auditing standards.

To implement and undertake this enormous task, the Ministry of Finance with the help of the UNDP has recruited two of the most qualified persons both locally and in the Diaspora. The allegations against the two experts are totally false and the onerous will lie on the accuser to prove it in court. The two experts who were the subject of the smear campaign therefore have decided of their own to resort to a court of justice in the land in due course.

We therefore see Haatuf’s innuendos as nothing more than unholy witch-hunt and it is very unfortunate if the press who were supposed to protect the rights of individuals is constantly used to violate the rights of ordinary citizens.

The lack of responsible journalism with the insatiable appetite to criticize the government actions without a grain of truth will ultimately play into the hands of the enemies of free press. The idea that whatever the government does is bad is rooted in nihilist ideology and it seems Haatuf have taken the view that the government does no good, without realizing, that such bad mouthing of the government deeds, only breeds contempt for our nation as well as being irresponsible journalism.

It is the responsibility of every citizen to build the image of the nation without compromising the inalienable right to express one’s opinion without fear or coercion, for freedom of speech is the backbone of our democracy. But having said that, if we write a black cheque in the name of free press, who will protect the rights of the ordinary citizen from vocal bandits who violate the rights of others under the pretext of the freedom of the press?

Freedom of speech like democracy can only work when people exercise responsibility, otherwise democracy and freedom of speech will only breed chaos and instability. As a society we have to strike a balance between freedom of speech and democracy on one hand and chaos and instability on the other hand. We want freedom of speech without the inherent instability. It may be hard sometimes to get the tradeoff between the two, but at least one has to try to be as objective as possible, so that his or her rights to express may not violate the rights of others. In other words how can one play hockey and at the same time safe teeth as the Somali saying goes (how to play it safe).

Misinformation as news and libel as an opinion will ultimately if not stopped take away one of the biggest God given treasures …the freedom of speech. The right to express or freedom of expression should not be construed as the right to insult. In teetering democracies like us, they may look alike but they are miles apart. The journalist who does not observe the ethics of journalism and the rights of others is like a loose cannon directed against the unsuspecting general public. It is the wolf in a sheep’s skin. The enemy of free press therefore will be the free press itself.

As the people who read the press, we have the right to get the truth not the self seeking propaganda intended to mislead, produced and packaged as news or opinion — the Haatuf’s way. Yesterday was the free press day and the journalists vehemently advocated protected free press in the country but not the rights of ordinary people. We want the law of the land to protect all of its citizens not the journalists alone.

In the name of free press, democracy, and the rights of others, Haatuf should publicly retract what it has written and give an unqualified apology to all who read the newspaper and in particularly to those who have been the subject of the smear campaign; the innocent individuals, the Ministry of Finance and the UNDP.

Hon. Ahmed Nur Aw Abdi Shair  - Vice Minister of Finance