By: Osman A.M.
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – Water Resource Minister who was on official trip to Kenya for five days jetted back into the country on Saturday and briefed on the outcome of his representation on behalf of the Government while he was held in various forums in Nairobi with diplomats & heads of international missions.
Addressing the press on his arrival at VIP lounge at Hargeisa’s Egal International Airport Hon. Hussein Ahmed Abdulle expressed;
“The Minister for Environment & Rural Development Hon. Shukri Ismail Bandare & I departed the country for Nairobi on the 24th March where we jointly conducted consultative forums with UN-FAO & SWALIM, an organization that has been contracted to implement its projects by first and foremost holding an evaluation discussions culminating to recapping programs bi-annually in accordance with established norms. In this meeting that ran for a day & a half, UN-FAO was briefed on what was/was not achieved in the initial six months of its projects together with the reasons for the success or failures & a way forward was advanced for the need to consolidate the lessons learnt so that our failures or non performance are harnessed to concrete accomplishments in future interactions”.
Hon. Duale informed muckraking journalists on the outcome of his interaction with among others a senior representative of UN-HABITAT at the Kenyan mission, the British Ambassador to Kenya doubling also as European Union Head in additional to the German Embassy Attaché in-charge of social affairs.
In his meeting with UN-HABITAT Representative the Water Resource Minister underscored the need of widening the scope of the ongoing joint program as well as rolling out other innovative ones in the near future. Mr. Duale also disclosed of his approach to UNICEF’s official where upon lengthy inspiration culminated to signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would facilitate harvesting & harnessing rain water in reservoirs at designated joints in addition to tapping flowing water on our dry/seasonal rivers and streams that are wasted during rainy seasons.
The major parties formalizing the contract in the said MOU explicitly ratified the roles & responsibilities on their part by appending their signatures thereby overtly expressing their intentions to honoring their different parts with respect to the donor’s, Government’s & the design implementer.
Minister Duale was the principle agent representing the Government of the Republic of Somaliland, the UK High Commissioner sitting at Nairobi representing the part of EU that is the donor party and a MR. Khan a senior official of UNICEF carrying the consignment on behalf of his employer.
Mr. Duale was resoundingly victorious as he disclosed that the MOU was a score for the Government being the first contract in the Water Resource Ministry that saw Somaliland contacted on its own unlike previous practices where Mogadishu use to contract its affairs via acting as a third party ratifying its contractual obligations that mostly imposed spontaneous misuse of donor funds.
The Water Minister confirmed of getting assurance from Mr. Khan who was categorical that UNICEF together with other UN agencies implementing donor funded projects would be engaging the Government of Somaliland to undertake its legal obligations in future undertaking due to enhanced accountability & transparency in addition to improved governance structure.
The Minister further revealed of convening a vital meeting with the German Embassy at its mission in Nairobi under the headship of the Social attaché Ms Julia who pledged to delink future engagements from Mogadishu’s Federal Government of Somalia by gashing Somaliland’s share of 25% henceforth – amount the money the Embassy channels to the whole Somalia considering its role of aiding developing nations of the world.
The Minister informed the public that a delegation from the German Embassy led by the Social attaché has formally accepted to be hosted by the Government of Somaliland & would be arriving in Hargeisa on 14th April with a view of further consultation in additional to orienting themselves with the country. Mr. Duale also announced the acceptance of UNICEF through its representative Mr. Khan who acknowledged injecting contemporary skills to employees of the ministry to enable them gear up to perennial human force labor experienced by their lack of knowhow in water industry. Mr. Duale lastly in his press briefing hinted of acknowledgement by Mr. Khan who approved the ministry’s proposal for his organization to facilitate construction of new office quarters.
