Somalia President and the need for probity in public office

[Deeq A.]

Mogadishu (Commentary) — Getting a second chance to lead Somalia was unprecedented before 15 May 2022. In Turkey last week President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud claimed that he was not wealthy. By Somali standards he is wealthy. Political power has been the means he used to become wealthy.

In Africa the wealth of politician — ill-gotten gains to be exact — can manifest itself in the lifestyles of the immediate family of the President or the Minister.

Between 2012 and 2015 President Mohamud authorised the sale of public properties, attempted to identify and gain access to Somalia assets frozen in foreign banks. He misused the dignity of sovereignty without healing political wounds caused by the civil war.

In 2016 Abdirahman Abdishakur accused President Mohamud of enabling a family member to create a company that charges fees on top of Mogadishu Airport porters’ service fees. President Mohamud has never come clean on how much is the Somalia money deposited in Turkey, money that an American lawyer retrieved in the name of Somalia. The lawyer in question is awaiting trial for attempting to steal Somalia assets.

“It is better for President Mohamud to make an anti-corruption commitment than assume Somali citizens will second-guess him.”

During his first term of office corruption was more endemic at the federal government level. What challenges, if any, does the federal system pose for fighting corruption in Somalia ? Under a corrupt leader the government becomes a tool for the leader and his sycophants. President Mohamud’s government did not publish an annual audit of government accounts (2013-2017).

In the 2022 Financial Governance Report indicates that the Office of the Auditor General prevented the awarding of uncompetitive contracts during the transition despite the legally questionable justifications by the State Attorney General. This development suggests that the Office of the Auditor General was less susceptible to being pressured into doing the bidding of the government of the day. If a new government can maintain the independence of the Auditor General’s Office under a President whose corrupt practices is tolerated by donors (whose interests are better served by corrupt leaders) remains to be seen.

In politics a leader is judged as much for what he does or did as well as what his predecessor had done. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed did not make personal use of the public office for financial reasons. He does not own houses in Mogadishu or Turkey; his immediate family members do not run government departments. Only a President who regards Mogadishu as fiefdom could misuse the public office.

The Somali public is right to be wary of the platitudes and self-serving remarks of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who has yet to express commitment to fighting corruption and embezzlement of public funds. It is better for President Mohamud to make an anti-corruption commitment than assume Somali citizens will second-guess him.

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