By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – Members of parliament are the eyes and ears of the electorate who placed their trust on them.
This was stated by a Member of the Somaliland parliaments ‘house of representative Abdirahman Mohamed Jama ‘Aw Hoog” in Hargeisa where he also castigated the minister of Commerce Dr Musa Kassim for hoodwinking citizens with double talk.
“How can the Commerce minister justify today’s denial of yesterday’s pronouncement that the government has privatized the national fuel depot in Berbera” said the MP
The legislator was reacting to a statement issued by the commerce minister castigating members of the house of representatives for rejecting a proposed plan by the state to privatize the facility.
At a session of the August house on Sunday 30th Aug 2015 with a quorum of 55, the proposed move to hand over management of oil storage and handling to a private company/individual was rejected by 40 lawmakers, thus raising the ire of the minister.
Following the plans rejection the minister released a statement that read in part – Though my ministry is responsible for the management of the Oil Storage Depot in Berbera we have not submitted a privatization plan to the president and neither has he submitted such to parliament”
“It is thus surprising to hear of legislators rejecting a ghost plan “said Minister Musa Kassim while accusing opposition political parties for having a hand in the events-Unquote
In his rejoinder MP Aw Hoog informed minister Musa Kassim that lawmakers neither require government authority to protect public property noir will they look aside as institutionalized corruption bog the livelihoods of ordinary Somalilanders.
Stressing that the current administration has rewarded cronies with public property the MP said the worst was the issuance of contracts to foreign companies for national resources without parliamentary approval.
Though he acknowledged non receipt of a government request for transfer of fuel depot by the legislators the MP said that Parliament did not require such for lawmakers to act in protection of wanton disposal of public property.
At the same time the legislator who is a senior member of the opposition party Wadani was at pains to understand the essence in having a constitutional body like the national tender board which the state does not utilize accordingly.
Though MP Abdirahman Mohamed Jama Aw Hoog only meant to put the sentiments by commerce minister in the proper context his press briefing also helped to end the confusion occasioned by the motion rejected by parliament and termed by minister Dr Musa Kassim as fictitious since the state had not submitted the said.
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