Minister Suleiman Ali Koore, the Somaliland Minister for Water Resources Development, on a visit to Daadmadheedh region, inadvertently stamped his superior, the President of the Republic of Somaliland, His Excellency Musa Bihi Abdi, as a ‘corrupt briber’ and a liar who went back on his campaign program.
Minister Koore, playing up to Oodweyne, the capital town of the province, appeared, in fact, to be practicing his eloquence as an orator, when he revealed that President had no respect for either properly channeled, correctly processed accounts or his oft-touted program of stamping out corruption and unaccountability to the electorate public among government circles.
The Minister said: “The President asked me to deliver to you US$500 000 in cash that had not been processed through the Ministry of Finance, neither earmarked in nor included on the national budget, and not donated by any organization which he directly put on a special plane for the people of Daadmadheedh and the development of their projects”.
Mr. Koore, however, did not elaborate on why the President broke the law or where else he drew the money from.
The Minister went on to say that the projects they brought “were neither fictitious nor the usual laying of foundation stones for projects that never materialized of previous administrations” thus, again, making naught of the undeniable achievements of their predecessors from the same ruling party.
During the same, run-away speech he made to his listeners at Oodweyne, Minister Koore, furthermore, brought to the surface that President Bihi donated this hefty, cash package on the behest of the ‘Central Bank Governor, Minister Shukri of Environmental Protection and MP (Mohamed Yussuf) Waabeeyo’ – all belonging to the same ethnic clan as the Oodweyne residents. By saying so, he again indirectly accused the Somaliland Central Bank (SCB) Governor of violation of the very financial regulations he was supposed to uphold, aided abd abetted by cousins Shukri Bandare and MP Waabeeyo to the detriment of decency, accountability, and transparency.
He went on and on on a sycophantic, over-played rhetoric about how great the people in the area were, and how they were to be found in five of the six leading regions of Somaliland.
“You are to be found in Sanaag, in Togdheer, in Sool, in Maroodijeex and in Sahil. People who live in five regions out of six should be above complaints about defeat in elections,” he cried. By saying so, aiming to talk area residents of their support to Waddani party, he, again, disclosed why, in fact, the President broke the law on this particular cash delivery.
The Minister’s unintended message to the rest of the country did not escape the public: that President Musa Bihi lied about his campaign vows and that, by his actions, he had the makings and trappings of another budding, corrupt dictator.
One of President Bihi’s more appealing promises rested on swift action to stamp out government malpractices.
