Muqdisho (INO) – Family and business ties between those responsible for ensuring the national army is provisioned, and the company providing its dry food rations — amounting to upwards of $8 million each year —suggest a serious conflict of interest, a new UN report said.
The new report by the UN’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group alleged that evidence collected by the Group indicates that the army hierarchy has systematically inflated the troop numbers in order to secure greater funding for salaries and rations.
“The almost exclusive use of cash for payments, distinct lack of accountability measures, and absence of any independent oversight has left the army leadership free to exploit Government revenue at the expense of its soldiers’ and citizens’ security.” The report said.
The lengthy report has also noted that impunity and misappropriation within the army has dented donor confidence in the Federal Government of Somalia, which it said has acknowledged the gravity of the situation.
CORRUPTION AT THE NAIROBI EMBASSY
In contrast, the report has also alleged misappropriation within Somalia’s foreign embassies including the Nairobi embassy, accusing the former Somalia’s ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Americo of irregularities occurred at the Somali embassy in Nairobi.
“Under former Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nur “Americo”. Between January 2014 and April 2015, the Embassy collected $960,836 in fees for over 7,500 Somali passports and emergency travel documents.” The report said.
“During the same period, only $486,258 was remitted to the Ministry of the Interior account at the Central Bank in Mogadishu, leaving $474,578 unaccounted for. The Group is also concerned about a donation of $1 million from the Government of China in 2013, of which $479,314 was remitted to the Central Bank, and the remaining $517,686 allegedly paid in legal fees to the Nairobi-based law firm Ibrahim, Issack & Company.”
Mr. Americo hasn’t so far commented on the allegations in the new UN report.
PORT’S FUNDS MISAPPROPRIATION
The report has also alleged that In September 2014, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP Somalia) transferred port rehabilitation funds, which by this time amounted to over $1.8 million, with it said accrued interest.
However, instead of using the Treasury Single Account, as agreed, the funds were transferred to a Mogadishu Port account at the Central Bank of Somalia (CBS), account, the report noted.
“From 13 to 20 September 2014, Amin authorized the withdrawal of almost $1.7 million in cash from CBS account No. 1035 — almost the entirety of the port rehabilitation funds.” The monitoring group side, referring to the former Somali ports minister.
The Monitoring Group has also said that it has since obtained evidence suggesting that Amin and the then-Director General of the Ministry of Ports and Marine Transport, Abdullahi Ali Nur, likely misappropriated the funds.
Despite the new security and development progress, Somalia continues to stay on top of the world’s most corrupt countries’ list every year with widespread backroom deals seem to be occurring all the time.
Last week, a new research by Transparency International has put Somalia and North Korea on a red colour in the new map of the world’s most corrupt nations, denoting a high-level of corruption while Afghanistan is among the nations praised for making great improvements, rising by five points since 2013.
Idale News Online, Muqdisho
