Issue No. 427

The Somali government’s culture of corruption – a clear and present danger

Somalia is currently experiencing the worst drought in a generation. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud’s (HSM) foremost priorities seem to be the drought and the return of the missing soldiers from Eritrea. While he is right to put these acute crises at the top of his agenda, the chronic quandary of government corruption also poses an existential threat to Somalia’s security, economy, and society. Perhaps because it has existed for decades, with little change, Somalia’s culture of corruption has become entrenched and generally accepted as unavoidable. This has allowed the government to ignore the problem, even as it perpetuates it. Meanwhile, it is increasingly clear that the impunity with which government officials engage in bribery and looting cannot be separated from other afflictions, which corruption tends to aggravate. For example, some of the taxes and donations intended for the neediest Somalis have been siphoned off by unscrupulous government officials. 

Government corruption also perpetuates inequality and creates discontent among poor and marginalized people, which sustains violent extremist organisations such as Al-Shabaab. As Austrian Economist Ludwig Mises famously said, “There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men.” Government corruption is an endemic, insidious threat that HSM needs to address immediately.

The recent Somali election was the most corrupt, non-transparent, and expensive one in the nation’s recent history. Many of the elected/selected members of parliament (MPs) pledged their votes to the highest bidder – regardless of who they ultimately cast their ballots for. Additionally, most of these MPs hope to become cabinet ministers in the new administration. Similarly, some senators have recently expressed their interest in government posts, claiming that no law prevents them from entering the cabinet, like their counterparts in the lower house of parliament. Farmaajo, in order to avoid accountability and to discourage the legislative body from a no-confidence motion, had selected most of his cabinet ministers from among house MPs. These ministers then double-dipped when it came to salaries and other perks. To form an effective and accountable government, HSM needs to keep three branches of government separate. 

The recent hearing of the FGS House of the People (HoP) Finance Sub-Committee and the federal Minister of Finance, Abdirahman Duale Beyle, shed little light on this issue. Instead of directly answering the committee’s questions, Minister Beyle chose to ridicule the deputy speaker of the HoP, Sa’adiya Yasin Samatar, and gave ambiguous answers about loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under President Farmaajo. He couldn’t say if the funds were a loan that required repayment or were instead grants. Previously, when Beyle was summoned to the Auditor General’s office, he refused to appear unless the Attorney General went with him. It suggested that he had something to hide. The Auditor General subsequently accused Beyle of knowingly and intentionally hiring three federal employees who were receiving salaries from another federal institution. And not just salaries; they also received various perks from Ministry of Finance programs. 

The HoP didn’t receive three of the last five years’ audited budgets and financial statements for both houses of the legislators, but nevertheless approved an unprecedented $918.7 million budget for the forthcoming year. The HoP Financial Sub-Committee needs to investigate the Ministry of Finance and bring to justice anyone found guilty of any criminal acts or intentional and willful misappropriation of government funds or resources, not proceed with ‘business as usual.'

Somalia’s Federal Member States (FMSs) have hardly been immune from the scourge of official corruption, either. For example, last month, the Puntland Ministry of Health realized that it was missing 300 cartons of Plumpy’Nut, a ready-to-use therapeutic food. The intended recipients were children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. But Puntland failed to protect or deliver this essential life-saving food, which may have cost lives. Not one government employee was disciplined, lost their job, or was criminally charged for this heinous crime. 

Since some of the Al-Shabab-controlled areas are not accessible to the aid agencies responding to the drought – for obvious security reasons – many relief agencies opt to send money through mobile money remittance services. In HirShabelle state, a recent report suggested that mobile money remittances intended for drought stricken and internally displaced people (IDP) in Mahaday town, Middle Shabelle region, were mismanaged. In Jubaland’s Gedo region, IDPs on the outskirt of Doolow were dying of starvation while the Farmaajo administration was sending in weapons and ammunition to use against the state security forces. 

Corruption even seeped into the Ministry of Religion and Endowments during this year’s annual Hajj. The ministry awarded Hajj contracts to travel agents connected to senior ministry officials. This kind of corruption – misusing resources intended to allow Somalis to fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam – shows the depth of moral degradation caused by government corruption. Additionally, Somaliland – with an estimated population over four million – was appropriated only 350 slots out of the 5,206 given to Somalia by Saudi Arabia.Somaliland’s Ministry of Religious Affairs protested against Mogadishu’s action but its complaints were ignored. Somaliland, in response, decided to boycott this year’s Hajj. 

In most Somali branches of government, whether at the federal or the state level, the desire for personal and political gain all too often trumps civil servants’ obligations to the citizenry they are supposed to be working for. According to Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, Somalia was tied with Syria in second-to-last-place (which, admittedly, was a minor improvement from the year before, when it was tied for last place). Every year, millions of dollars of tax collected from poor people and donor funds for development are misappropriated and looted through any number of corruption schemes: unnecessary travel reimbursements, double-dipping salaries, unbidden procurement practices, and the hiring of well connected family members. HSM and his administration urgently need to tackle the malignant cancer of corruption. An excellent place to start is the selection of the ministerial cabinet and new security sector leadership.

The Somali Wire Team