Political Disputes Hamper Reconstruction of Waaheen Market in Hargeisa

[Deeq A.]

Mayor of Hargeisa Abdikarim Ahmed Mogeh chairs an ad hoc committee for the reconstruction of Waaheen market.

Hargeisa (PP News Desk) — One week after a massive fire swept through the eponymous Waaheen market in Hargeisa, efforts to rebuild it faces political obstacles. Three days after the fire, a rift had emerged between Hargeisa municipality and Somaliland government over the management of reconstruction funds. The Federal Government of Somalia donated 11 million dollars to the reconstruction efforts. Somaliland Planning Minister Omar Abdullahi Bade described the donation as funds that the Federal Government had withheld from Somaliland administration in the first place.

The Federal Government wired the money to a committee tasked with the market reconstruction project. President Muse Bihi of Somaliland Administration acknowledged the support from Mogadishu.

Somaliland Administration wrote to the international community in the hope of raising two billion dollars to rebuild Waaheen market and recapitalize small business owners whose livelihoods were destroyed by the fire.

Written urgently and without painstaking attention to detail, the letter reflects a desire to take over the reconstruction initiative from the ad hoc committee that Hargeisa Mayor Abdikarim Ahmed Mogeh chairs. “Two sentences have grabbed my attention: 1- ‘In this regard, we are launching for a combined US$ 2 billion to urgently deliver humanitarian and livelihood support to an estimated 5,000 small, medium and large family businesses’ 2- ‘Together and united, we could redress alleviating the suffering of this population’” a postwar reconstruction and development expert in Hargeisa told Puntland Post.

Somaliland Administration aims to run the reconstruction project, with the Ministry of Housing and Public Works as the lead ministry. “We have concerns about the way Somaliland Government is politicizing the market reconstruction initiative. We heard that the government intends to influence the list of potential beneficiaries of grants for business owners. Traders know who traded at the market. That is why the market committees have drawn up plans to identify traders on the basis of a strict and verifiable criteria” said Ali Adan, a trader.

The political tension intensified after Hargeisa local government tax collectors attempted to collect unauthorized taxes from destitute traders at Waaheen market. “I commend the Mayor of Hargeisa for brining to book tax collectors who tried to collect illegal tax from women who had received donations” tweeted Ismail Ahmed, the founder of WorldRemit.

Meanwhile, Ilhan Omar, the US Congresswoman, has joined efforts to support victims of Hargeisa market fire.

© Puntland Post, 2022

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