It has been more than a week now since the government’s takeover of Haatuf newspaper. Since then new revelations about the minister of minerals, Hussein Duale's corruption have come to light. The latest one is the minister’s misappropriation of $20000 which was supposed to have been used to defray some of the expenses incurred by Sheffield community’s campaign toward gaining recognition. In his press conference, the minister of minerals asked the rhetorical question, if I had appropriated millions of dollars as Haatuf claims, why would I descend to taking a mere $20000? In theory this seems like a logical question, but the truth is that he did descend to misappropriating the $20000, and this was confirmed by Sheffield community leaders (click here to watch a Sheffield community leader confirm that they had not received those funds).
Even people who want to give Hussein Duale the benefit of the doubt and who have listened to him defending himself must have been struck by two things: (a) the paucity of evidence and documentation that he presented regarding the contracts he signed during his close to four years in office; and (b) the overall impression that he is basically operating in a vacuum with hardly any accountability, supervision, or oversight over his work before, during, or after the signing of contracts. There is simply little evidence where funds originate, no checks whose point of origin could be traced, no convincing proof of what those funds have been spent on and where. For example, the minister said he gave to the Somaliland Sheffield community the funds minus the expenses accrued by him and the foreign minister while they were in the UK. The leaders of the Sheffield community however have confirmed that they had not received those funds. If we put aside the question of misappropriation, the issue that immediately rises is why were the funds given to the minister of minerals in the first place and not to the minister of foreign affairs since dealing with the Sheffield community falls within the latter’s duties and responsibilities and is not part of the duties and responsibilities of the minister of minerals. Right there one can see that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way Somaliland government operates.
At this point, no matter how hard the minister or the government tries to spin the matter, it is very clear that the minister has lost his credibility, and the longer he stays in office, the more people are asking why is the president keeping in his government someone who has become such a glaring liability? Is President Sillanyo afraid that the minister might spill the beans on him if he lets him go?
President Ahmed Sillanyo may still be able to salvage what is left of his corruption-ridden presidency if he does the following:
1-End the occupation of Haatuf Media's premises and compensate it for the monetary loss it incurred due to the illegal occupation.
2- Fire the minister of minerals and set up an independent audit to retrieve the funds he is alleged to have pilfered.
3- Return to the public purse the money illegally appropriated by the president's family and ban the president's immediate family and his in-laws from being involved in government business.
If the president refuses to implement these steps the creeping decay and disintegration facing his administration is only bound to get worse and he will have no one to blame but himself.
Written by: Yusuf Abdi Gaboobe
Owner of Haatuf Newspaper and Chief Editor Of Somalilandtimes