Mogadishu mayor Yusuf Hussein Jima’ale has warned over arbitrary closure of roads in the city noting the practice was causing a lot of inconvenience and curtailing movement in various parts of the city.
Jima’ale who also doubles up as Banaadir region governor said his administration would move to open all closed roads, a development which is likely to rub shoulders of powerful forces with vested interests in the road blocks.
“This problem is quite distressing. It has become a habit for everyone to place roadblocks near their houses. My administration will no longer tolerate this,” said Jima’ale.
His immediate predecessor Mohamed Hussein Mungab was axed last year after a spat with Interior Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed over the closure of the road linking UNDP offices to the airport.
Mungab had deployed bulldozers to clear the roadblocks but the Interior Minister responded with a similar force and finally succeeded in having the road blocks in place.
Concrete blocks are a common feature in most roads in Mogadishu and attempts to remove them have always been justified in the name of security.
