Minister of Planning: Speech to the international community and the media

[Siciid1986]

Minister of Planning: Speech to the international community and the media

 

 

Mr. President, ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning.

 

I would like to welcome first those of you from Nairobi – representatives of international organisations and the media. Warmest welcome, soo dhowaada, bienvenuti, bienvenida, Marxaba bikum.

 

For those of you who were not here in the early nineties, and that is about everybody I suppose, I would like to take you back few steps so that you can appreciate the changes that took place since.

 

Ladies and gentlemen

 

When in 1991 we returned to Hargeisa following the collapse of Siyad Barre’s regime the city was unrecognizable. We came back to ruins, a ghost town of roofless empty shells, where the streets were full of debris and claimed by wild acacia trees. In fact, there were suggestions to leave it in tact as it was as a memorial, and to rebuild an entirely new city elsewhere.

 

Well, twenty years later, those ruins have been transformed into a buzzing small metropolis with a population between 800,000-1million, stretching about 15 Km from west to east, where you can buy literally anything you want, including your favourite breakfast cereal from the minimarkets in almost every street and the crowded bazaars, and it boasts of about a dozen universities and colleges.

 

For those of you who have been to the trade fair, you must have witnessed our local telecom companies displaying their wares and services, the money transfer companies faster than Western Union with mobile payment services far advanced than what is available in most of the developed world, and which is about to turn this country into a cashless society. You could not have failed to notice our local Broctal and Gambles and Delmonts show casing a range of household domestic products and beverages.

 

All that progress was made possible thanks to the creativity, entrepreneurship and resilience of the private sector. And the amazing thing is that they have achieved that much in the absence of a financial service sector and without access to sources of capital. Think of your countries without banks, insurance companies and investment funds and what could be achieved without them.

 

 

 

In contrast you must have noticed on landing and in your tours the patched runway of the airport, the dusty roads in disrepair with more pot halls than paved surface, the unkempt streets, and the crowded poorly equipped and maintained hospitals. In sum the poor state of the infrastructure would have caught your eyes.

 

The provision of good public infra-structure and service is within the domain of the state. It is the responsibility of the state not the private sector. And the state seems to have failed in its duty for various reasons:

 

First, infra-structure does not come cheap. It is very expensive, and the means available to the state have been limited;

 

Second, for many years, the main preoccupation has been the maintenance of peace and security and the meagre resources that could be mobilized were allocated towards that end.

 

Third, infrastructure was never a priority for the international community in its aid program, which I hope will change; and

 

Finally, previous administrations have been negligent in their duty.

 

The new governmentwas elected on a platform of change, and intends to make good on its promises. It wants to embark on a new course where infra-structure and development assume the centre stage. But to succeed in its strategy, it needs international assistance in substantial form andnow; not in the usual drip drip form. Aid in trickle creates dependency not development.

 

What we need is nothing short of a Marshall plan, ‘a shock and awe aid strategy’, in order to rehabilitate and build ourroads, airports, ports,streets, hospitals, schools, libraries, town halls, public housing, water works, power stations, irrigation systems, information technology infrastructure and the like. We have the will, we know the way but we need critical international commitment and support to make the distance, to roll the wheels of development. This is the onlyroute to guarantee peace and prosperity and root out extremism, poverty, conflict and mass migration – our common purpose.

 

THANK YOU

[Jacaylbaro]

Finally, previous administrations have been negligent in their duty.

Unprofessional ... desperate and nonsense