Somalilandsun – A staff placement at the Somaliland Roads Development Agency has turned into a dispute involving the minister of Roads and Transport.
A similar publicly brewed conflict of mandate has ensued between the minister of agriculture and the disaster and food security management agency.
As for the former the heated argument ensued after the roads Development manager Osman Sheikh Abdi removed Saeed Jama Ali from the agency’s administration and finance management office and replacing him with Abdilahi Sheikh Mohamed Abdi, a short while back.
But according to the minister Abdilahi Abokor Osman who has oversight over the roads development agency, the manager has no authority over the hiring, firing or replacement of senior officers.
To this effect minister in turn removed the new roads agency admin/finance officer and reinstated the former holder.
Minister Abdilahi also took the initiative of informing his boss, President Muse Bihi Abdi via a letter in which the minister says the roads Development agency manager overshot his authority.
This is because that the dispute has not only gone public but is the first to emerge within higher echelons of the president Bihi administration.
But worthy of pondering is why this particular position has turned very important to the two senior officials , is it because the holder controls all finances allocated roads Development in the whole of Somaliland?
On the other hand the minister of agriculture is embroiled in a dispute with the head of National Disaster Management and Food Security Agency
The dispute gone public started when the agriculture minister Ahmed Mumin Seth issued a natural disaster warning to residents of the Somaliland coastal regions of Sanaag and Awdal.
Said he, “The residents of the coastal areas within Sanaag and Awdal regions are warned of imminent natural disasters emanating from the sea”said the minister adding that those in clear danger are fishermen
Though the minister’s warning is unprecedented in Somaliland where natural disasters occur unnoticed or planned for, the rebuttal by the director of disaster and food society agency Feisal Ali Sheikh was baffling.
Speaking to HCTV, the disaster management boss said that Somaliland was not anticipating a natural disaster anywhere or anytime soon.
Stressing that it was only his agency that can issue such warnings, Feisal Sheikh went on to castigate the agriculture minister for allegedly interfering in matters outside his purview. Click to watch the Public exchange
While the establishing an early disaster warning is one that should be a priority in lieu of regular and unannounced mishaps that ensue with great hardships to Somalilanders, the dispute between the agriculture minister and the disaster agency chief is minor.
The one between the transport and roads Development Minister and the presidentially appointed manager at the roads Development Agency is of concern.
In March this year and a short while after both their appointments the minister and the roads development agency manager were embroiled in a similar conflict that ended in fisticuffs , a shameful incident indeed.
While the president is yet to make an official intervention on these issues , which if left to simmer, presumably with time, might impinge upon proper administration of the important transport and natural disaster management Sectors, an iron hand is surely imperative.
