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Frankincense and Gums Umbrellas in Somaliland: Complaint about Inaction

October 4, 2012 · 356440 Comments2012-10-04+21%3A34%3A04SomalilandPress

Republic of Somaliland: Frankincense and Gums Umbrellas; Subject: Complaint about Inaction
Subject: Complaint about Inaction
We, the united umbrellas of Frankincense and Gum producers of Somaliland, do herby lodge our deep dissatisfaction against the World Bank in the following points:
1- On October 2006, we got a request from the then Minister for Planning of Somaliland to travel to Hargeisa to meet the World Bank representatives there. The aim was to discuss ways of developing the Frankincense and Gum (F&G) production in Somaliland.
2- We were received in the Ministry of Planning on arrival and met with World Bank officials
3- An agreement has been reached to raise all the needs of the F&G sector in order to revive the production which collapsed during the war.
4- In February 2007 our needs assessment was completed and submitted to the World Bank
5- From 2006 and up to now we have been called for meeting at the rate of twice a year in Hargeisa, although we are domiciled in the most distant areas of Somaliland.
6- This resulted us to collect a high burden in costs and debts, from accommodation, travel etc with a set back to our meager activities at home. Waiting time was always too long.
7- With 14 meeting (2006-2012) so far being convened, not a single step was taken forward.
8- At the same time, those lost years were called Phase One and Phase Two, and huge funds running into millions were consumed. Not a single penny has ever reached where it was intended to and what it was intended for.
9- In the last meeting which was held at Hotel Mansour Hargeisa on 22nd September 2012, when we tried to express our views, we met with harassment and threat from the organizers.
10-We lodged numerous complaints over the years with the ministries of Planning, Commerce, and Environment and with the judicial system of the country, but no action has been so far taken.
For that reason, we appeal to the President of Somaliland and to all those concerned to look deeply into this matter so that Somaliland Frankincense and Gum producers get all the funds intended for them without wasting huge sums on air travel, leisure accommodation, vehicle hire and useless seminars and meetings, which has so far exhausted large sums of the tax payers money.
Signatories:
Frankincense and Gums Umbrella (The Star Umbrella)
1- Saalah Guure Amalle
2- Mohamed Abdulahi
3- Ahmed Omer
4- Mohamoud Boss
5- Abdirahman Farah
Anbar Gobane Umbrella Durdur Umrella
1- Mohamed Omer Ismail 1- Farah Mohamed Hassan
2- Aden Tarabi 2- Suldan Ibrahim Cige ismail
3- Abdi Burale Mohamed 3- Hassan Hiirad Yonis
4- Musa Abdi Aralle 4- Said Mohamed Hassan
5- Garad Suleiman Ahmed 5- Abdulqadir Jibril Dualeh
To: The president of Somaliland
To: The World Bank
CC: The Ministry of Commerce
CC: The Ministry of Internal Affairs
CC: The Ministry of Planning
CC: The Ministry of Environment
CC: The House of Elders of Somaliland
CC: The House of Parliament of Somaliland
CC: Somaliland Anti-corruption and Good Governance Commission.
CC: Department for International Development (DFID) UK
CC: Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)