Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Somalia Mr. Ahmed Ould-Abdalla (center) with President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed - Photo - Office of the Somali President
HOL EDITORIAL
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Currently, there is a debate within the UN circles in Nairobi, Kenya, where the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) is located. It is a discourse initiated by the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Somalia Mr. Ahmed Ould-Abdalla around the issue of relocating the UN agencies to Somalia. It is also a known fact that the UNDP is resisting such proposition on security grounds. The UNDP claims on its website of undertaking infrastructure, development and security related programs in Somalia.
Moving the UN offices from Nairobi to war-torn Mogadishu is the only logical strategy as the UN is coordinating the international efforts to offer support to the newly installed Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the African Union troops in Mogadishu. This editorial is not an indictment on the work of the UNDP in Kenya/Somalia, but rather to give credence to the calls for the need of effective service delivery on behalf of the international community- that is to say, presence in Somalia. Satellite service delivery in the comforts of Nairobi hotels amounts to little tangible assistance to the people and government of Somalia. Many analysts blame the UNDP of mismanagement of the donor dollars allocated to Somalia and others allege of widespread abuses and incompetence and rightly demand transparency and accountability.
It is also our view that UN presence in Mogadishu would revive hope and build the confidence of the people and give boost to the fledging TFG. In this view, the long-term implications of this continued charade and elitism in Nairobi will only perpetuate the negative view of the aid industry as this very telling and absurd charade has created privileged and rich aid bureaucrats who are not interested in changing the status quo. In short, the perspective presented here is in support of the SRSG for Somalia’s position to move the UN offices to Somalia
The UNDP was established by the General Assembly in 1965 as the lead organization in the provision of technical assistance. This involves the assessment of local needs and priorities and serves as focal point between the UN and recipient government. The UNDP claims today of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on development in Somalia without any presence in the country. This raises many questions. Just to give you an idea, it claims to have spent over $46 Million for only three projects. In its website, it states that it spent 15,921,476US in 2009 for the rule of law and security (What security and rule of law?), on governance it claims to have spent approximately $23 Million in 2009, on recovery and sustainable livelihood it claims to have spent over $7 Million dollars, while its staff were getting hefty pay in Nairobi, Kenya and staying in five star hotels. If it claims to have spent such huge amounts of money in Somalia, wouldn’t it be fair to be on the ground in Somalia carrying out the UN mandate.
By relocating its operations to Somalia would give two-fold advantage, first it would give credence and legitimacy to the UNDP expenditure in Somalia, and secondly Somali people will benefit enormously through employment generating projects once inside the country and such projects will stimulate the economy and build confidence of the Somali people.
Notwithstanding the mismanagement of donor funds by the TFG leadership, the Minister of planning for Somalia rightly criticized the UNDP in an interview with the BBC Somali services and categorically disagrees with the UNDP claim to have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Somalia. Graham Hancock’s published “lords of poverty” may provide a useful perspective on the UN systems, in order to draw a realistic and logical parallel explanation to why the UNDP is resisting relocating to Somalia in order to assist those it is supposed to help.
Surprisingly, the United Nations transition plan for Somalia for 2008-2009 (UNTP) document, which sets out the strategy of the UN for Somalia with respect to reconstruction and development, and aims at supporting transition from conflict to peace and from crises to recovery and long-term development unmistakably identified one of the major weaknesses of the UN as being very slow to respond in emergencies due to too much time spent on “processes” and “meetings”. It’s our view that one option of remedying the UN’s mea culpa as reported in the UNTP document is to heed to and implement the SRSG for Somalia’s proposition of relocating all UN systems to Somalia.
There are other countries where the security reality is similar or even worse than Somalia, yet the UN has offices and staff. The UN is very effectively operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the Democratic Repubic of Congo. It is time to be in Somalia and begin the real task of doing what you are supposed to be doing and move your staff from Nairobi hotels to Mogadishu.