78 African Business November 2016

FEATURE

Somalis are beginning to challenge

the idea that their country is Africas
most failed state.

Somalias
image problem

ews that Somalias presidential and legislative elections had been postponed
until November came as no surprise
to critics of the countrys fledgling
government.
Twenty-five years after the outbreak
of civil war, Somalia remains one of the most lawless
and unregulated places on the planet. Holding elections in the fractured country was always going to be
a messy affair, even with clan elders casting votes on
behalf of their communities.
The shaky progress so far made towards normalisation of the political and economic landscape was underscored in a recent article by The Economist, entitled
Most-failed state, which painted a depressing picture
of a nation unable to find its feet and succumbing to
an ever-deteriorating security climate.
Yet while the shadow cast by Al Shabaab, the Al
Qaeda-linked terrorist group, looms large over daily
life in the country, Somalis at home and abroad are
beginning to challenge the nihilistic narrative that
dominates media coverage of their struggle.
Angered by what they saw as one-sided, sensationalist reporting in The Economist, Twitter users
jumped on the hashtag #CorrectingTheEconomist to
highlight Somalias slow but steady progress in recent
years. Speaking in Mogadishu in the week the article
was published, Justus Kisaulu, general manager of the
city-centre Jazeera Palace Hotel, says the capital is a
victim of negative publicity.
If you stay here, you soon find that its not the
truth, he insists. Most of the guests we host here are
international: business people, NGO workers, government delegations, ambassadors. They always come with
a very negative perception, which everybody has about
Mogadishu. By the time they have stayed they tell
me, This looks different [to what I expected]. What I
used to hear is not true.
Jazeera opened its doors in 2012 and quickly earned
a reputation as one of the most secure places to stay

AB_Somalia 1116

AB_1116.indb 78

Coming
from a
quarter
century of
civil war,
putting in
place all
those laws
takes time.

Publisher

in the capital, boasting a strategic location just 300

metres from Aden Adde International Airport. As
well as being a favoured meeting place for politicians
and diplomats, the hotel regularly hosts conferences
for the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the United Nations. Unfortunately, its
facilitating role for Somalias reconstruction has not
gone unnoticed by Al Shabaab. Suicide bombers have
struck outside the hotel several times during its short
history, most recently killing 15 with a truck bomb
in July 2015.
While acknowledging that security is an everpresent concern, Kisaulu says the attacks prove that
Jazeera is seen as an icon for change by the terrorists.
Each and every person staying in the hotel can change
something positively, he argues. That is why we need
to provide a safe haven for these people.
Having drawn lessons from each terrorist incident,
the hotels defences now seem impenetrable: military
gabions and watchtowers surround the buildings
perimeter; guests and vehicles are screened multiple

Proof Reader
23/10/2016

12:30

November 2016 African Business 79

Livestock and farming remain the backbone of

the economy, with clear growth potential for lemon,
sesame seed and banana exports once supply-chains
are matured. Inroads are also being made in the fisheries sector and novel markets like insurance.
However, capturing the benefits of this economic development is not easy for the state. With little
authority beyond its ministry buildings and army
barracks, the government relies on partners like the
Chamber to collect tax revenues. This semi-voluntary
system works well for larger companies that see direct
advantages from compliance. But the majority of
small business people dont do it, Gabeire admits.
When we talk with them they say, What is the government doing for us? Both sides are right. We are
stuck in the middle.

times before entering; and dozens of armed guards

provide a final layer of defence inside.
Across town, at the Somali Chamber of Commerce,
the lack of progress depicted by The Economist also
rings hollow. Mahamud Abdi Ali Gabeire, its president, admits that capitalism did not come naturally to
Somalis after the collapse of Siad Barres communist
regime in 1991. Its something that we reached through
the civil war, not through the culture, he says. But,
with no functioning public sector to lean on, Somalis
soon found their entrepreneurial spirit.
Today, key sectors like agriculture, finance and air
transport are managed almost exclusively in private
hands. More than 1,100 companies have registered as
members of the Chamber, clubbing together to prod
lawmakers for new regulations and scarce international funding. Though there are no public bodies to
collect economic data, Gabeire estimates that GDP
is now growing by as much as 2% per year (he rejects
the International Monetary Funds estimate of 3.7%,
calling it complimentary but not realistic).

AB_1116.indb 79

A recent article in The

Economist depicted a
nation unable to find
its feet and an everdeteriorating security
environment.

Success story
Even in the formal economy, allegations of corruption and mismanagement abound. Dahabshiil is one
of Somalias best success stories, growing to become
the largest money-transfer business in Africa. Its
remittance services are a lifeline for a country with
no traditional banking sector that relies heavily on
foreign currency sent by the diaspora.
But fears over money laundering and terrorist funding have dogged the company for years, jeopardising
its access to the international banking system and
throwing the financial security of many Somalis into
uncertainty.
Hashim Duale MBE, another senior member of the
Chamber, urges the international community to show
pragmatism and patience while Somali businesses get
up to speed with global norms.
The world has to recognise the situation we are
in. Not all the money that is coming out of Somalia is
bad money. Its earned money; its peoples money, he
insists. [Companies like Dahabshiil] are doing more
good than harm. Mistakes are made, yes. Lloyds TSB,
Barclays, they also did dodgy deals. And they got
penalised by the government. The same applies here.
Taking aim at the nihilistic sentiments espoused
in The Economists article, he concludes: It is easy in
the Western world, when you are looking in from the
outside, to think that we are mad people and there are
no rules and regulations. Taxation laws, inheritance
laws, commercial laws If we are coming from a
quarter century of civil war, putting in place all those
laws takes time. But, honestly speaking, they are there.
They just need evolution.
Martin Rivers

23/10/2016 12:30