^It's hard to know exactly what a particular minister has done. Certainly Cali Haji appeared to be doing something given his numerous media appearances. I don't know what Eenow has done or where he has appeared to be doing something. There should be fact based metrics - opened this many schools, opened x health clinics etc. Sadly none exist - even budgets are not known with certainty. No Xaabsade in there - Thank God.

LOL Tallabo. That mentality is at the root of the problem today. No wonder the federalism project is so difficult to implement.

It's time elders take responsibility for their actions. If they signed away their clan's land - then the clan should remove them and find better representatives. Somalis like to blame others for their own failings especially those from this area.

^I fully get your point. The only thing is to subtract financial and other support they give to Al-Shabaab and other idiots. Net net positive or net net negative? Not sure.

That list you cited is for the most part Arab backed donations that individuals with connections received for private use/benefit or a way to safeguard Gulf security. For example, East Africa University is a for profit institute started by Somalis with Gulf connections and money. It isn't an investment project of public use and benefit like this port one. This is different. Why are they doing this now is my question? Is it simply competition with the Turks? i don't take any government aid at face value - I just want to understand the exchange here. BTW - if we are going to criticize the legitimate western blunders in Somalia - let's at least acknowledge the many tens of thousands of Somalis who are citizens of western countries now. When I look at what is happening to the poor displaced Syrians - I see that Somalis in the 1990s were very lucky indeed.

Why all the secrecy and lack of information? That smells really bad. Usually politicians run ahead with news of this type. And what's in it for the Arabs - they have done little in Somalia in 20+ years of civil war - why the push now. Answers and explanations are necessary but Somali chief execs rarely see themselves accountable to their citizens.

^Haha. After hundreds of years of the black man being put down - a little payback is deserved.

NY - this company is not spending 40 million because it thinks that there is nothing there. And as for Puntland - they only dug 2 wells - whereas areas of that size would need hundreds of wells dug to rule out oil. Trust me there is oil in that country - what isn't fully known is the quantities. MMA - folks said the same thing about the TFG created in Nairobi - it was better to wait since that was a corrupt process with a corrupt outcome. But any government is better than chaos. Despite the ineptitude of our current government - having independent resource money is better that waiting for the next handout from the international community.

Apparently the worst ever deal if signed. Somehow we manage to do much worse than the worst African countries. Consistently.

Bloomberg By Ilya Gridneff Friday, May 29, 2015 NAIROBI -- Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd., chaired by former U.K. Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, has proposed a deal with the Somali government that may grant it as much as 90% of the country’s prospective oil revenue. A draft production-sharing agreement, obtained by Bloomberg from an official close to the negotiations, sets the state’s share of revenue on the first 25,000 bopd at 10% if found at a depth of greater than 1,000 m and when oil costs less than $70 a barrel. If output exceeds 150,000 bbl, Somalia’s take rises to 30%. Crude for delivery in June fell 0.4 percent to $57.30/bbl at 4:45 p.m. in London on Thursday. Any deal with Somalia will include terms that are “fair and balanced” and reflect those signed in other high-risk, offshore oil and gas jurisdictions, Chief Executive Officer Robert Sheppard said in an e-mailed response to questions on May 27. “The proposals being discussed are in line with current industry standards.” Somalia is trying to attract investors to help rebuild its economy after African Union-backed government forces regained control of parts of its central and southern region seized by al-Shabaab in an insurgency that began in 2006. The Horn of Africa nation is scheduled to hold a general election in 2016, the first since 1967, according to the Heritage Institute, a Mogadishu-based research organization. Oil and gas output may start by 2020 after exploration work showed the potential for “huge” offshore deposits, former Petroleum Minister Da’ud Mohamed Omar said in February. Production Model The government is drafting a production-sharing-agreement model before signing any deals, the Petroleum Ministry said April 20. “Nothing has been signed and there are no developments,” Fatima Mohamed, personal assistant to Petroleum Minister Mohamed Moktar Ibrahim, said by phone on May 25 after being asked to comment on the Soma proposal. The draft agreement calls for the London-based company to be granted a four-year royalty holiday for oil and gas found less than 1,000 m below the sea surface. Deeper finds should carry a six-year moratorium, the document shows. Soma also requested a moratorium on taxes for at least 10 years. Johnny West, founder of Berlin-based OpenOil, the world’s largest public online database of oil contracts, compared the terms of the Soma PSA to nine “early-stage” offshore African contracts, including post-war Liberia, that have potentially high costs, high exploration risk and various degrees of political risk. ‘Significant’ Deferment “None of them defer significant revenue streams to the government for as long as Soma,” he said. “The next lowest cap on upside to the government of a mega-find is effectively 60% of profit, half as much again as in the Soma deal,” he said in a phone interview. Soma proposes that if oil prices are at $70 to $150/bbl, the company receives 70% of revenue for the first 25,000 bbl and 50% on production in excess of 150,000 bopd. The company also offers the government 50% for the first 25,000 barrels and 30% for production above 150,000 bbl if oil rises above $150/bbl -- which would be a record high. “Normally, fiscal and commercial terms for petroleum exploration, development and production are carefully crafted by the host government to balance the perceived petroleum prospectivity of a region,” said Michael McWalter, an international oil and gas specialist and former adviser to the Ghanaian government. “If oil and gas are abundant, the government takes a greater percentage of the net value of the petroleum after costs have been recovered, and conversely if not so abundant, the government takes less.” Soma has spent $40 million on seismic surveys of 60,000 sq km off the Somali coast, according to the company’s website. In November, Sheppard said the company would give the government its processed seismic data by “late this year, early next year.” The data will be transferred to the Petroleum Ministry by the end of the second quarter, Sheppard said this week.

It is odd - how the average Somalilander seems to be ok with this egregious behaviour. But I don't expect the general masses anywhere in Somalia to come out organized and do anything apart from the usual qabiil thing. I did however expect culuma, local leaders and local NGOs to be more vocal and unequivocal. It is not as if people are afraid of condemning Siilaanyo & co - it's open season on him - and if I were his opponent - I would have used this against him regardless of principle.

Of course - it takes work and at the large scale - serious government involvement. The sad thing all governments in that country can't do a thing without some NGO leading it. See this video about dryland grass planted in Goldogob district in Mudug that is thriving and creating a green carpet. In fact - it took over areas that were to be planted in other items.

^I agree. What a ridiculous outfit. So over the top in its Arabness.

Mogadishu is a black hole - funds that go there don't make it to the rest of the country. According to the map above - Somaliland has only taken in about 2000 people - that is hardly all that much to be complaining about a financial burden.

^You have a point - it wasn't as if he could withdraw Somali Shillings from the atm. But the President shouldn't be there anyway - his Minister of Finance or some other lower level person should be opening a bank.

LOL@ Alpha. What a crap article. How people publish this is beyond me.

^Business and the economy is coming back to Somalia. There are hundreds of Kenyans working in Somalia particularly in Mogadishu. It seems Somalis create businesses in Kenya to employ Kenyans and we also employ them in our own country to the detriment of fellow Somalis. This is a Somali forum - either participate with logical and reasonable arguments which you have yet to manage or get the hell out and spew your hatred elsewhere. <cite> @Nin-Yaaban said:</cite> El Punto, u might be right, but I am only speaking from personal experience and what i have seen. Sure, Somalis have helped Kenyans in creating jobs and stuff, but still, they have done a lot for us. If the roles were reversed and it was Kenyans in Somalia, how do u think things would have turned? You would have had hundreds of thousands of Somalis asking to relocate Kenyans back to their country. Kenya has an open, pro business economic system - this is what allowed Somalis to be successful - that and the ability to purchase anything, including residency, in the country for a few shillings. It is not a matter of Kenya doing anything for Somalis - it is that the system they have which predates the Somali civil war allowed Somalis to do well in the country. You are completely mistaken about Somalis regarding foreigners. Having been to the country the past two years for the first time in my life - you will see thousands of Ethiopians, Kenyans, Pakistanis, Arabs from Somaliland to Puntland to Mogadishu. No one bothers anyone and no one interferes with anyone. In fact - it has become fashionable in Mogadishu to employ Filipinos and others for the most menial jobs - which business owners purport to do because of security fears. If Kenyans came by the hundreds of thousands and opened up businesses and hired people in Somalia - I would welcome it and so would many Somalis. Somalia is an underpopulated country that needs business minded migrants to invest in the country and build it up. But I don't welcome foreign employment in Somali businesses when there are qualified Somalis and huge unemployment rate. That is doing a disservice to the country and its people.

<cite> @Nin-Yaaban said:</cite> DoctorKenney, that's not entirely true. Kenya has done a lot for Somalis, and it's still the only country in the horn that let's Somalis start and own businesses. I would say 65% of all Somalis who fled the war transited thru Kenya. And there are still hundreds of thousands Somalis living there. Dadka laguma jizaaro. Somalis have done a lot for Kenya. They have started businesses that employ thousands of Kenyans and have invested hundreds of millions in the country. They have single-handedly turned Islii into the primary marketplace for East and Central Africa. Somalia's continued instability has created a multi billion aid industry employing thousands based in Nairobi pumping huge quantities of money and jobs into the Kenyan economy. The endemic corruption that is part and parcel of everyday income for Kenyans has gotten a huge boost as Kenyans prey on Somalis for bribes and that Somalis pay readily. In short Somalis are contributing massively to Kenya. Let's not create illusory stories about what Kenya has done for Somalis - they barely do anything for their own citizens. As if they have done special favours for Somalis!

Somalis need to rise above pointless clan loyalties. There is a fixed term for office holders in many countries around the world - barring a state of war - there should be no term extensions. By definition - seeking a term extension is ample sign of political/administrative failure and a naked hunger for power. All Somali governance systems should have recall provisions for office holders. This way unhappiness if genuine and broad based would have an appropriate and clear outlet.

Something fishy about the pre election polls and pundit predictions. It almost seems like poor Ed was set up in the media with all the neck in neck nonsense and that in the end drove conservative voters to come out in force.

The last person who should be talking about 'smallness'. Look in the mirror you dwarf.

Stop frothing at the mouth and linking together things shouldn't be. You are starting to sound like Hirsi Ali.

^Very true. This sort of pseudo scientific bahdil only serves to create and reinforce negative attitudes toward Somalis from fellow Canadians. There are two Somali candidates for the federal election in October - one liberal in Toronto and one conservative in Ottawa at least one of which is a shoe in. So much for the continuing struggle of Somalis.

What a relentlessly negative story. If the premise is simply to rehash and emphasize the problems that are present - then the job has been more than adequately done. If the objective had been to present a complete picture of life for Somalis in Canada - this article is woefully lacking.

<cite> @Che -Guevara said:</cite> Forget Hiiraale, 50 out of 75 seats went to a tribe, talk about injustice!! There is only one tribe (mostly) in Somalia - Somalis. What you mean is clan family. I don't know that this clan family is 50/75 of the population but they are the majority in the region according to non-Somali researchers and authors. So if they get the majority of the seats - that is not unfair. Somalis always surprise me with their misplaced sense of their own clan's numerical superiority. If another clan is bigger than yours - take it up with God. What you should be striving for as a Somali citizen is individual human rights and not having anyone use government/taxpayer resources to enrich oneself or one's clan members. Anyway - Somalia needs to move to a voting system where each and every individual can run for any position. This way the clan dick measuring will end. Hopefully.