What do you think of this intuitive questioning by this senior adviser of IRC?

[NASSIR]

Anna Husarska has this to say about Somalis in his article. I think he has every right to have this perception. It is ironic that our people think of getting luxuries when they can't provide for the basic necessities for themselves and for their loved ones.

 

 

 

If Somalis can deliver khat on time, establish a nationwide cellphone system to coordinate its delivery and set up a functioning money-transfer system, why can't they bring water to their taps and build latrines for their people? It would be too easy to blame these failures on the effects of khat.

 

Read the full article @ Seattle Times

[Pujah]

^right on the money. The cause must be general irresponsibleness and lack of nationalism…I mean it’s one thing for a Somali to work hard when it contributes to his/her bottom line but you would be pressed to find one working for the common good…our expectation is that someone else will do it…or it must the non-existent government’s job :rolleyes:

[ElPunto]

^It strikes me as a bit simplistic. Public services are provided for 'free' by organized and responsible governments using tax and other revenues. Most African governments do not score well on this metric. In Somalia - tax systems are rudimentary at best and responsible government is absolutely non-existent - there can be no expectation of free public services.

 

The other problem is the author is comparing apples and oranges. Khat, cellphones and money transfers are all privately provided goods and services. You cannot compare the effectiveness and efficiency of privately provided G/S to the public ones of water and sanitation. An appropriate comparison would be one to the quality of water and sanitation that is privately provided and paid for by the individual consumer and the related efficiency/effectiveness of those systems.

 

Thirdly - institution building with support from the diaspora is happening in Somalia. Universities, schools, hospitals have been built where none existed and old ones refurbished. Far from what's needed and most are not free but require payment but much better than nothing.

 

My question for her and her 'humanitarian aid' ilk is - what have they been doing in Somalia for the last 15 years apart from stop-gap food handouts? What have they done in terms of building self-sustaining institutions to help the public that cannot afford privately provided goods and services?

[Caano Geel]

^ war sheydaan baa qabiil iyo tuugo nagu habaarey

[ElPunto]

^Yes - but we're still beautiful people. Can't take that away from us!

[Caano Geel]

been practising your white teeth ""how you doing""s lately

[ElPunto]

^Yes - with much success despite the season

[Zafir]

Somalia may have a global wireless connection, but many of its people have nowhere to relieve themselves and no water to drink. According to the World Bank, Somalia has 1.5 more telephones per capita than Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia, but only one-third as many Somalis have access to safe water as their neighbors in those countries.

 

I will deem that this source is a tad bit exaggerated, because this is totally implausible. How can we out talk, out resource and out phone nations that populate more then us respectively ?

 

 

It struck me as ironic, because I assumed that this man earned his income in a camp for the displaced. But he set me straight — most of his income consists of money transfers from his wife, a refugee in Nairobi. Remittances from abroad are in fact the main source of income for countless Somalis, and the transfers work amazingly well. A 2004 World Bank study on Somalia, aptly titled "Anarchy and Invention," reports: "The hawala system, a trust-based money-transfer system, used in many Muslim countries, moves [$500 million to $1 billion] into Somalia every year."

 

Except for the elders and the young and some that actually need help, Somalis, the only people in the world that would call you (with no reverence with time zones) and explain to you how yous are related and ask you to sent to them. 4 out of 10 would prefer Shaxaad to Shaqo.

[NASSIR]

Keyf, you right the common good comes from the individual. There seems to be a free rider type of problem.

 

Also, Mr. Point, but what if some of the public services are also privitized like companies who specialize in installing water drilling rigs and with water treatment facilities. There are some privately owned companies that provide such services.

 

They don't have to profit from selling water but finding and drilling ground water tables in every village and this can be done (the cost) with the assistance of NGOs and by raising collective contribution fund from the local populace. The same can be done with the sewage system and waste management. I was reading an article whose author recently traveled from Hargeisa to Bosaaso, an account of his travel. He observed while still in Hargeisa, "The residents of this rapidly burgeoning city are compelled by circumstances to indicate piles of rubbish as the directional signs to their homes. “Go past three rubbish piles and my house is the third left” is the usual way of directing friends and visitors to one’s residence."

[ElPunto]

^Why would anyone do anything they will not profit from? That's the point of private entreprise. Hence - why this won't be happening anytime soon.