Monday, June 10, 2013
Somalia’s Legal Public Robbing
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| [Courtesy of Amin Amir] |
Since every country has its own history and set of circumstances, ours is no different. We are one of the poorest countries in the world, our infant mortality rate is three times the Global Average, and we are one of the least educated and most unstable nations in the world. We have been colonized, and still have in our hearts history to settle with our neighbors (hopefully peacefully). We are ruined by over two decades of violent chaos, and thus there is a nation to rebuild and a society to heal. In short, the task ahead of us is insurmountable without determined society and leaders ready to do the right sacrifices for their country and invent the future.
In any relationship, there must be mutual trust and understanding between the groups involved if the goal is moving upward. The current parliament, the executive office and other top officials praise themselves for sacrificing for their poor country; no doubt, that in itself is a noble motive. However, those words and the material income that these people demand for their services are not compatible.
According to the Somalia Ministry of Finance and Planning’s Recurring Budget of FY 2013 released in April this year, the President of Somalia earns $1,456,884 for his personal services. Yes, you read that correctly, the President makes three times what the President of the United States makes: $400, 000 annually, which makes the President of Somalia the second highest paid public leader in the world after Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. The Prime Minister of Somalia takes home more than $900, 000 annually. The head of the Parliament earns $728,376, and the members of the parliament make collectively $9.9 million (/275=36k each per annum).
One of the highest paid Cabinet members is the Minister of Finance, Planning and Int. Cooperation who makes $2,482,452 annually, followed by three other Ministers: Minister of Information, Posts & Telecommunication who earns $1,791,612 and Ministry of Social Service Development also earns $1,830,492 a year. Similarly, the Ministry of National Resource makes $1,667,520. There are others that are not in the Cabinet such as the Head of Banadir Court who pockets $1,062,900, and the Attorney General that earns per annum $294,888. Other Ministers and high-ranking government officials equally earn hundreds of thousands yearly, and this is not including more than three million allowances that these people receive or accommodations for their work related activities. Most of the government’s revenues, some institutions over 90%,are spent on salaries, allowances and stipends among the government officials, and almost none goes to social development and infrastructure – those await donor nations to build, apparently, it is not the concern of the government.
When this government came to office about a year ago, it said it would prioritize security, building the economy, good governance, and promised to be a transparent government, among other things. According to the Public Financial Management (PFM) Self-assessment Report of 2013, the government of Somalia failed to manage its revenues properly, fraudulent activities are prevalent, and the government’s Ministers, “often …do not even know how much of the budget is allocated to them,” which only further illustrates their gross incompetence. Even worse, the government of Somalia does not have an active macroeconomic plan to stabilize the economy and bring the country economically together. The report adds, there “is a lack of comprehensive reporting on the use of state resources’’ and how individuals who work for the cabinet members are recruited or what qualification they have. Nevertheless, I give the government credit for at least developing this report (even through it was by the request of donor countries). The report continues to say, the “Parliament has not subjected the Ministry of Finance to strict accountability scrutiny with respect to the management of the national budget,” and thus failed to carry out its duty thoroughly. Moreover, the report says that “senior advisors of government based in Nairobi have mostly been responsible for the preparation of the budget” (emphasis added). In other words, the budget comes from Nairobi instead of Mogadishu. More seriously, the report says that the President of Somalia is open for the privatization of some of the National Assets such as the Port of Mogadishu. Actually the Port of Mogadishu generates most of the internal revenues for this government ($millions), and if it’s privatized, it will further cut the revenue it generates for the government because the profit will have to be shared with, more likely, a foreign company.
When you read these reports (which I strongly urge you to do), the chaos that exists within this government comes out in the open. How much these individuals make in the name of working for the Somali people creates distrust and suspicion, and deprives the society that little sparkle of hope they have had, and it also encourages others who are ethically challenged to steal as much. Seventy three percent (73%) of Somalis living in Somalia make roughly $60 a month, and 81% of our population is poor. That means that the President of Somalia makes, in one day, roughly the income of more than two thousand Somalis living in Somalia who earn $2 a day, or the income of four thousand Somalis who make $1 a day. No wonder that consecutive Somali governments were accused of corruptions, and the country rates one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Clearly, these two reports show the government’s priorities if we follow the pay scaleobjectively. For example, security is downplayed because the average Somali soldier earns annually about $1200 although some earn less. The head of Defense Ministry makes $306,276 yearly, where, for example, the Minister of Information, Posts & Telecommunication gets $1.8 million a year, and neither is the priority of this government is building the endogenous economy and supporting the local businesses. The reason being that the Minister of Industry and Commerce makes $493,584 where the Minister of Finance, Planning and Int. Cooperation earns more than $2 million annually for his services, and there is no comprehensive macroeconomic plan that this government has put in place. As the intensity of financial management program shows, the government is preoccupied with soliciting more donor money and less on rebuilding Somalia.
What this government preaches and how deep its pockets are, are not compatible by any means. In other words, having a government title should not be a tool to extract more money from donor nations and our poor people, but it should be seen as an honor, prestige and ammanah(fiduciary) bestowed upon you. Since Somalia is a poor nation, it is shameful, out of touch, and selfish the leaders to demand such insane amounts of money for the work they do for their own country. No place on earth with a government that praises itself on being a representative and democratic pockets so much money from the poor people it is supposed to serve and protectwithout their consent.
Building private and public partnership should start with the government, and this government should immediately adjust its pay scale and bring them to an acceptable level close to the national per capita income if their priority is making money regardless of how poor and aid dependent the country is. Even if this government would not do this for the sake of Somalia, they should do it for the sake of the survival of this government because the “2012 and 2013 budgets showed financing gaps of US$49.6 million and US$29.9 million respectively. None of these budgets provided explanations as to how the financing gaps were to be financed.” This is a real threat to the government’s ability to carry out its day-to-day work. The reality is, if this government cannot regulate itself, behave as a responsible government that takes into consideration the plight of its people, the hope we have for this government to successfully bring the country together is in jeopardy.
Hassan Mire
The author is a student of economics and comparative governance.
mireh@my.uwstout.edu
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