Day: December 27, 2022

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Somali President: Civil Servants Mostly ‘Ghost Staff’ on Government Payroll

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA — Somalia’s president over the weekend said the vast majority of paid civil servants were neither in the country nor working. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said 3,500 of 5,000 people on the government payroll appear to be so-called ghost workers.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s assertion that most government employees do not show up for work was condemned by Somalis.

While there have been similar claims in the past, the president’s statement was met with outrage and calls for action.

Mahad Mohamud is a fruit vender in Mogadishu.

He notes the government relies heavily on donor support to fund its budget yet it pays people who do not report to work. Mohamud says the so-called ghost workers should be made to refund their salaries and be prosecuted for corruption and abuse of public trust.

Somalia’s 2023 national budget stands at about $960 million, more than two-thirds of it expected to come from donors.

University graduate Deka Elmi says the president and prime minister must swiftly deal with the issue of ghost workers.

She says the government is paying more than 3,500 people who are not present at their offices while students who completed their education are jobless. Elmi says the president and prime minister should urgently do something about it.

President Mohamud talked about the so-called “ghost workers” while addressing officials during Friday prayers at the presidential mosque.

He said the government’s biometric time and attendance system shows the number of staff that are present. Mohamud says the machine does not lie but indicates whoever puts their thumb on it. Civil servants are more than 5,000, he says, but only 1,500 are present.

Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Saturday confirmed the problem and ordered ministries to inspect and ensure that staff follow working hours.

University of Somalia political scientist Mohamed Matan doubts there are so many government workers not actually working.

He says threats from al-Shabab militants, who target public servants, may also be keeping some away.

Matan says fear of al-Shabab has forced everyone to trust only a few and to keep away from others. Although, he notes, civil servants cannot be fired and that has also led them not to be committed (to work). And even if they do go to the office, says Matan, they do not work.

Transparency International has for the last two decades ranked Somalia one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Mahad Wasuge is executive director of Somali Public Agenda, a research institution focusing on governance.

He says ghost workers should be removed from public service, which should be reformed.

Wasuge says that can be achieved with a broad government plan regarding the reform of the civil service, which is based on open, transparent recruitment. He says even director generals should be transparently recruited because they are not politicians but are there for administration and technical expertise.

Somalia is hoping to secure debt relief from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank by the end of 2023.

But it requires strict adherence to fiscal procedures, including prudent management of public resources and streamlining Somalia’s public service.

Source: Voice of America

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US Congresswoman Hails Somali Army Successes Against Al-Shabab

U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar hailed recent victories scored by the Somali government and local community forces against al-Shabab militants in central Somali regions.

Omar, who was born in Somalia, has been visiting the country since Thursday. In Mogadishu, she met with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and members of the Cabinet and parliamentarians on Monday.

Speaking at a dinner in her honor hosted by Barre, Omar congratulated the Somali leaders for the “big success” against al-Shabab militants.

Omar called for collaboration in defeating the group she accused of “dishonoring” Islam.

“Our country and our religion have been associated with terrorism [because] of the dishonor they brought on us,” she said. “We have to get rid of them as Somalis and as Muslims and pray and support each other in that work.”

She said local Somali representatives have been able to visit their constituents for the first time since they joined the government because of the military operation that freed central territories from al-Shabab.

Last week, Somali government and local forces captured Ruun-Nirgood, the last major town in Middle Shabelle region controlled by al-Shabab.

Somalia army chief Odawa Yusuf Rage told VOA on Monday that the operations are now expanding to the neighboring Galmudug region. He admitted that militants remain in small villages on the western side of Middle Shabelle close to the border with Hiran region.

Meanwhile, al-Shabab has imposed restrictions on workers and vehicles of Somalia’s largest telecommunications company, military officials said on Tuesday.

The militant group told Hormuud Telecommunication workers they are not allowed to travel between the areas controlled by the group and areas in the hands of the government, the military said. The restrictions also apply to the vehicles belonging to the company.

Spokesperson for the Somali military Brigadier General Abdullahi Ali Anod confirmed to VOA the restrictions imposed by al-Shabab on Hormuud Telecom.

“We heard that, we have received it,” he said in an interview.

He said Hormuud has been repairing telecommunication centers, masts and restoring services in newly recaptured territories. “They are on standby, wherever the army arrives,” he said.

Hormuud Telecom has not commented on the reported restrictions.

Anod said the extremist group also wants to prevent the public, including pastoralists, from passing information about al-Shabab movements to the army and police.

Anod said group has the false believe that the army is using the telephone network for their operations. “The army has its own communication. It’s possible that they don’t know that,” he said.

“They are punishing the companies and the general public,” Anod said.

The Somali government reported it has seized nearly 70 localities from al-Shabab since August when operations by the military and allied local militia started. Anod said they recorded 11 incidents where the group destroyed telecommunication masts and phone centers in areas seized.

Source: Voice of America

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Abduction, Torture, Rape: Conflict in Congo Worsens, UN Says

DAKAR, SENEGAL — The accounts are haunting. Abductions, torture, rapes. Scores of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by the M23 rebels in eastern Congo, according to a U.N. report

In addition, the M23 rebels have forced children to be soldiers, according to the report by a panel of U.N. experts. The 21-page document — based on interviews with more than 230 sources and visits to the Rutshuru area of Congo’s North Kivu province, where the M23 have seized territory — is expected to be published this week.

Conflict has been simmering for decades in eastern Congo. More than 120 armed groups are fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities.

The already volatile situation significantly deteriorated this year when the M23 resurfaced after being largely dormant for nearly a decade.

The M23 first rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congo’s east, which sits on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009, which called for the rebels to be integrated into the Congo army. The M23 accuse the government of not implementing the accord.

In late 2021, the reactivated M23 began killing civilians and capturing swaths of territory. M23 fighters raped and harassed women trying to farm family fields in rebel-controlled areas, according to the report. The rebels accused civilians of spying for the Congolese army, the report said, and often incarcerated them and, in some cases, beat them to death.

Populations living under M23 not only are subject to abuse but are forced to pay taxes, the panel said. At the Bunagana border crossing with Uganda, the rebels earned an average of $27,000 a month making people carrying goods pay as they entered and left the country, the U.N. said. Two locals living under M23 who did not want to be named for fear of their safety told The Associated Press they had been forced to bring the rebels bags of beans, pay $5 if they wanted to access their farms and take backroads if they wanted to leave the village for fear of reprisal.

The M23 did not respond to questions about the allegations but has previously dismissed it as propaganda.

The violence by the rebels is part of an overall worsening of the crisis in eastern Congo, with fighting by armed groups intensifying and expanding in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, said the report.

“The security and humanitarian situation in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces significantly deteriorated, despite the continuous enforcement of a state of siege over the past 18 months,” and despite military operations by Congo’s armed forces, Uganda’s military and the U.N. mission in Congo, the report said.

Adding to the difficult situation in eastern Congo, attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces — believed to be linked with the Islamic State group — are increasing, the report said, and a nearly yearlong joint operation by Uganda’s and Congo’s armies “has not yet yielded the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the ADF.” Since April, according to the report, ADF attacks killed at least 370 civilians, and several hundred more were abducted, including a significant number of children. The group also extended its area of operations to Goma and into the neighboring Ituri province.

The fighting is exacerbating eastern Congo’s dire humanitarian crisis. Almost 6 million people are internally displaced in Congo, with more than 450,000 displaced in North Kivu province, since clashes escalated in February. Hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, and disease is spreading, aid groups say. Cholera cases are spiking in Nyiragongo, a region hosting many of the displaced people in North Kivu, with more than 970 cases discovered in recent weeks, said Save The Children.

Efforts to stem the violence have yielded little results.

A new regional force deployed to eastern Congo is facing pushback from residents who say they do not want more armed groups in the area. Tensions are also rising with Congo’s neighbor Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting the M23 rebels, findings backed by the U.N.

Earlier this week, the M23 said it was retreating from Kibumba, a town near Goma that it held for several weeks, as part of an agreement made last month at a summit in Angola, said M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka in a statement. However, residents from Kibumba said the rebels are still there and still attacking civilians.

“My neighbor was whipped because he refused to let M23 slaughter his goat,” said Faustin Kamete, a Kibumba resident. “They lied to the international community with their withdrawal,” he said.

Source: Voice of America