A day ago, Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, sent shockwaves through Somalia by tweeting that he had signed seven Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) with Coastline Exploration Limited.
This shady company, formerly known as Soma Oil and Gas, had coveted Somali oil for years and even conspired with Hassan Khaire, the disgraced former Somali prime minister.
More than his outrageous action, the minister made sure people know who he got permission from. Indeed, he thanked President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo “for supporting the process and encouraging [him and his team] to complete this task”. But, why make public a process that has been shrouded in secrecy all along?
Was it the fact that Coastline had already shared the news with the media earlier? Was the deal intended for publication? Or is it the fact that the minister was taken aback by the news wide in the open and was looking for a safety net?
So many questions, the public expects to have answers in the near future.
The minister did this fully aware the president had published on August 21st, 2021 a decree banning agreements with foreign entities during the election period.
However, it should be noted that the minister, a close friend of prime minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, had lost this week his MP seat (HOP#045) representing the Southwest region after his bold request to be the only candidate for this seat was turned down by his clan.
Something he took badly and that he and Roble understood as a maneuvering by President Farmajo to eliminate the Prime Minister’s friends from the future parliament.
However, the president’s response was swift, condemning the act as illegal and in direct violation of his previous executive order. The Prime minister’s reaction followed and promised to take unspecified legal action against the people involved.
We would have stopped there except that, coincidentally, the Federal Election Implementation Team (FEIT), now under Prime minister tight control, published just after the revelation a suspension on the election of seat HOP#045.
The seat that the Petroleum Minister had been denied is now in dispute. Could it be that the action of the minister and the parliamentary seat are linked? Is Roble rewarding the minister, through FEIT action, for his brazen insistence on Farmajo’s involvement?
Obviously, the public is outraged by the minister’s shady dealings and the fact someone somewhere, whether it is the usual suspect or these treacherous “risk-taker” companies, wants to harm the president.
True, President Farmajo may be physically protected by a secure compound in Villa Somalia, but his political survival rests on his known integrity. And that’s where the schemers are aiming.
As for Prime Minister Roble, he most likely learned the news after the fact but seized the moment to offer a plea deal that would also tarnish Farmajo’s name.
Either way, and whoever is plotting to put the blame on the president, the minister is as guilty as sin of knowingly committing treasonous actions and the public demands real action to be taken against him, not the opposite.
Today, the Office of the Auditor General of Somalia (OAGS) has taken up the matter. The office has issued a statement declaring the 7 PSAs unilaterally signed by Minister Abdirashid null and void.
The OAGS also advised the prime minister that all those involved in this illegal act be suspended from their current positions. Would he act accordingly and throw his friend under the bus? That remains to be seen.
The whole affair has caused the public to feel uneasy about this turn of events. Electoral disputes so far confined within Somalia now risk dragging the country into international lawsuits or arbitration such as the maritime boundary case.
