2021 - Bareedo Platform Somalia

Puntland Parliament’s move toward implementing access to information initiative first time in Somalia

October 1, 2021 bareedo Leave a comment All, Bareedo Core, Open Government, Open Parliament Project

In the occasion of commemoration of International Day for Universal Access to Information, Bareedo Platform commends the Puntland Parliament’s positive move toward adopting and practicing openness of information to the public, the first move ever in Somalia. Puntland parliament is one the three legal structures of Puntland government founded in August 8, 1998 as an autonomous state government after collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991. Puntland parliament practiced a culture of limited openness to the public and less engagement of citizens in the parliamentary work to improve access to information, accountability and transparency.

Puntland citizens were hard to find or know what their representatives do, the media coverage of the opening session in the first day of parliament’s scheduled sessions has been the only information that public could heard. In an online poll conducted by Bareedo Platform in 2019 indicates that 89% of the citizens unaware of and not familiar with the parliament’s work, sessions and proceedings. And 81.5% of respondents said they are curious to know information and work of the parliament to ensure that they are fulfilling the mandated work and not pursuing their own interests.

Bareedo Platform advocated openness of the parliamentary information and engagement of citizens in the parliamentary work to improve parliamentary accountability and transparency in Puntland as well as citizens’ right to know to ensure that their representatives are working for their benefit and not pursuing their own interests.

In November 14, 2021, H.E. Abdirashid Yusuf Jibril, a member of the parliament and former Presidency’s Information and Communications Director is elected as the new Speaker of the Parliament. Mr. Jibril who had understanding of this matter quickly moved to establish a communication office for the parliament first time and appointed Abdiweli Hassan Abdi “Gooni” , a well-known journalist and long-time media practitioner as the director of the new office.

Mr. Abdi quickly proceeded to lying foundations of the Parliament’s Communication Office and created a website where all parliament work, information and legal documents are openly available to public as well as created social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where parliament information and updates are constantly published. From 2020, the parliament’s work, information, meetings and reports become available to the public first time ever in Puntland and generally Somalia. And public began to follow, discuss and comment on parliament’s discussions, proceedings and reports first time ever though they are hardly engaged.

“I have started the office from scratch and with no single support available for such activities. I have put priority on establishment of the parliament’s public information channels such as social media pages, a website as well as recruitment and training of a competent team to work with me in delivering of the office’s mandate” the Parliament’s Director of Communications Mr. Abdiweli Abdi said.

“Before this office, people couldn’t know what their representatives are doing or what is going in the parliament, but now I’m proud of that Puntland people and generally Somali people are fully aware of and follow the parliament’s daily work more than ever.” Mr. Abdi added

“I’m now fully aware of the parliament’s sessions, live discussions and schedules, something limited before now. I feel happy for seeing parliament’s work on daily basis while their sessions are ongoing…” a member of Puntland Diaspora Mr. Ahmed Jama said.

“Since 1998, the parliament has been endorsing countless legal documents and policies and has been hard to find single copy of these documents, but now I can download these documents from the parliament’s website easily..” A lawyer and social rights activist Mr. Sharmake Nur said.

This is an impressive and positive move forward in the face of the looming access to information situation in Somalia, but there is still more need to be done and looking forward to adoption of access to information laws to fully absorb the people’s right to know and access the information without barrier. Bareedo Platform also calls for other states and the federal parliament in Somalia to follow suit.

What is E-Government?

September 26, 2021 bareedo Leave a comment E-Government, Open Government

Electronic Governance or E-Governance is the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for providing government services, interchange of statics, communication proceedings, integration of various independent systems and services. Through the means of e-governance, government services are made available to citizens in a suitable, systematic and transparent mode. The three main selected groups that can be discriminated in governance concepts are government, common people and business groups.

E-governance is the best utilization of information and communication technologies to mutate and upgrade the coherence, productivity, efficacy, transparency and liability of informational and transnational interchanges within government, between government agencies at different levels, citizen & businesses. It also gives authorization to citizens through access and use of information. Generally, E-governance uses information and communication technologies at various levels of the government and the public sector to enhance governance. Theoretical studies
state that E-Governance is the procedure of change of the correlation of government with its ingredients, the citizens, the businesses and between its own organs, through the use of tools of information and communication technology.

The UNESCO states, E-governance is the public sector’s use of information and communication automation in order to upgrade information and service delivery, stimulating resident involvement in the decision-making process and making government more liable, unambiguous and productive.

Elements of E-Governance:
Basic elements of e-governance are:

Government
Citizens
Investors/Businesses

Types of E-Governance:
E-governance is of 4 types:

Government-to-Citizen (G2C):
The Government-to-citizen mentions the government services that are acquired by the familiar people. Most of the government services come under G2C. Similarly, the primary aim of Government-to-citizen is to supply facilities to the citizens. It also helps the ordinary people to minimize the time and cost to carry out a transaction. A citizen can retrieve the facilities anytime from anywhere.

Similarly, spending the administrative fee online is also possible due to G2C. The facility of Government-to-Citizen allows the ordinary citizen to outclass time limitation. It also focuses on geographic land barriers.

Government-to-business (G2B):
The Government-to-business is the interchange of services between Government and Business firms. It is productive for both government and business firms. G2B provides access to pertinent forms needed to observe. It also contains many services interchanged between business sectors and government.

Similarly, the Government-to-business provides timely business information. A business organization can have easy and easy online access to government agencies. G2B plays a important role in business development. It upgrades the efficiency and quality of communication and transparency of government projects.

Government-to-Government (G2G):
The Government-to-Government mentions the interaction between different government departments, firms and agencies. This increases the efficiency of government processes. In G2G, government agencies can share the same database using online communication. The government departments can work together. This service can increase international discretion and relations.

G2G services can be at the local level or at the international level. It can convey with both global government and local government. It also provides safe and secure inter-relationship between domestic or foreign government. G2G builds a universal database for all members to upgrade service.

Government-to-Employee (G2E):
The Government-to-Employee is the internal part of G2G section. It aims to bring employees together and improvise knowledge sharing. It provides online facilities to the employees. Similarly, applying for leave, reviewing salary payment record and checking the balance of holiday. The G2E sector yields human resource training and development. So, G2E is also the correlation between employees and government institutions.

Advantages of E-Governance:
The supreme goal of the e-governance is to be able to provide an increased portfolio of public services to citizens in a systematic and cost effective way. It allows for government transparency because it allows the public to be informed about what the government is working on as well as the policies they are trying to implement.

The main advantage while executing electronic government will be to enhance the efficiency of the current system.

Disadvantages of E-Governance:
The main disadvantage regarding e-governance is the absence of fairness in public access to the internet, of trustworthy information on the web and disguised agendas of government groups that could have impact and could bias public opinions.

Keeping Social Media Open During National Exams In Somalia Campaign is successful

July 25, 2021 bareedo Leave a comment All, Bareedo Core, Digital Rights

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Federal Government of Somalia concluded the national secondary exams for the school year of 2020-2021 without shutting down social media platforms to prevent exam cheating.

This is a remarkable change after in response of exam papers leaked on social media platforms in 2019, ministry ordered shut down of social media for five days as a measure to curb the incidence from recurring. This move greatly affected the flow of information as social media is a key source for latest news and information and also journalists depend on it for research, interaction and news distribution.

This was not the first time in Somalia but similar measures were put in a place in Somaliland, a self-declared independent region in Somalia.

As result of the efforts and campaigns made by Bareedo Platform to end the practice, the country’s national secondary exams were concluded in June 2, 2021 without disruption of social media communications to discourage cheating any more.

This is a remarkable progress and perseverance of flow of information and hoping that the practice remain sustained over the coming years as promised by the ministry.

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Government’s Forceful Dispersal Of Peaceful Parents Gathering In Mogadishu Is Unfortunate

May 17, 2021 bareedo Leave a comment All, Bareedo Core, Democratisation, Press Statement

It is unfortunate the use of excessive force and forcefully dispersing peaceful gathering organized by distressed parents on May 16, 2021 at Daljir Dahsoon in Mogadishu Somalia, demanding the government on whereabouts of their young men who were sent to Eritrea for military training. Parents and relatives have been continuously addressing their complaints through the local media and social media networks, demanding that the government give an explanation on their whereabouts, but government turns a deaf ear to their pleas and remained silent about the matter.

It is also unfortunate that journalists covering protests were also attacked by the security forces, beating a female radio journalist and confiscated her equipment, according to a statement released by the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS).

Under the constitution of Federal Government of Somalia, people have a right to organize and participate in meetings, and to demonstrate and protest peacefully, without requiring prior authorization. These freedoms are suppressed; journalists are threatened, harassed, beaten, subjected to arbitrary arrests continuously.

We call on the Federal Government of Somalia to respect, protect and fulfill the right of demonstrators to peacefully protest, in line with the country’s constitution and International laws. We also call on the government to answer and convince the parents, relatives and friends whose loved ones are missing for years and have not heard of them since they were taken to Eritrea.

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Mobile Money Scams Take A Toll In Somalia During COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

April 23, 2021 bareedo Leave a comment All, Bareedo Core, Digital Rights, Open Government, Uncategorized

Somali people who are already struggling with the health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, are also distressed by another pandemic of mobile money scams, making the country’s largest financial service distrustful. Mobile money is the primary access point to financial services in Somalia with transactions worth about $2.7 billion a month according to the World Bank Report 2018.

Mobile money service are widely used and 73 percent of the population over the age of 16 use mobile money services as estimated by the World Bank Report in 2017. Taking advantage of this, the remittance companies are increasingly partnering with mobile money operators to transfer funds directly to recipients’ mobile money accounts, facilitating further the vast remittance flows which are critical to most Somali households.

The use of mobile money and its transactions boomed more than ever during COVID-19 pandemic and even humanitarian agencies increasingly favoured mobile money services for assisting the most vulnerable people in rural and remote areas of the country. While mobile money services are massively praised during the lockdown, something look like to be organized scams have troubled the users.

As matter take on social media pervasively, there is no official figures showing the scale and how much money lost to scams, but preliminary data shows an increase of mobile money scams from March 2020 when the COVID-19 emergency started. One of the three largest mobile money operators recorded more than 16,000 mobile money scams in a month and the informative officials even believe the figure to be far greater than this and that the trend is twice higher than before the COVID-19 emergency started.

Mobile money scams come in many forms and scammers have been using different tactics to trick and fall innocent victims into their trap, the most known tactics are detailed below.

Fake mobile money transfer transactions

Scammers increasingly used to send a fake mobile money transfer notification to the victims which looks like to be the ordinary one to trick unsuspecting victims. As soon as scammers send such fake notifications to the victim’s mobile number, they call the victim saying they just transferred money by mistake and that was meant for sick mother in the hospital or other fabricated emergency matter. Although the mobile money services have unique transaction ID and the sum up of the new balance are to be the previous balance and the new amount received, scammers pressure the victim with endless calling to hold off a chance to make an authenticity check.

Badri Kozar, a prominent journalist based in Hargeisa posted on his Facebook page a story of a victim of a mobile money scam in Hargeisa where the scammer sent a fake mobile money transaction notification to the victim showing that the victim received $100 and his balance is $486. Immediately after receiving the fake notification, the victim received a call from a man claiming that he sent $100 by mistake and requesting to return $90 and keep the remaining as reward. Kozar and the victim both alerted the public about the scams.

This tactic remained the scammers’ biggest approach to trick innocent people, mainly targeting the business people or individuals who are super busy or unable to make an authenticity check when they come across in such situations. Nearly 69 percent of Somali mobile money users have experienced such scams according to a recent survey of more than 3,200 persons by Bareedo Platform Somalia. The survey also shows that women in business who are mainly financially illiterate and dominating the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be the hardest hit groups.

Impersonating public figures

Scammers also used to call the victim pretending to a someone the victim knows well and likely to trust, and telling that they are in an emergency situation such as in hospital or airport and need an urgent sum of money. This kind of masquerade scams led many innocent victims to fall into a trap and lose a lot of money to scammers who are increasingly employing sophisticated and persuasive means to try and get what they want from these unsuspecting victims.

This tactic devastated friends and relatives of some popular public figures and many of them such as members of parliament, religious figures, Police officers, and businessmen who were impersonated by the scammers, have come forward alerting friends and relatives to be aware of the scammers using their names to steal money from friends and relatives.

Dr. Sh. Ahmed Nuur, a religious scholar alerted the public about scammers who have been impersonating well-known local religious figures to scam innocent people taking advantage of the love and respect people have with their religious figures. Dr. Nuur told the public that these scammers have already scammed a large number of innocent people including students, teachers, and management of some popular religious teaching schools and colleges in Somalia.

Impersonating aid agencies

The internally displaced and vulnerable rural communities who are dependent on aid in different parts of Somalia are also hit and targeted by the scammers. Scammers call innocent victims pretending to be from aid agencies well-known by the victims and then asking for registration and facilitation fees. These kinds of scams existed years insignificantly, but re-emerged recently taking advantage of the widely adopted mobile money cash distributions as the safest and quickest way of reaching and assisting the vulnerable people in the rural and insecure areas of the country.

For the latest instances, National Commission for Refugees & IDPs ( NCRI) of Federal Government of Somalia issued a public alert on February 24, 2021, urging residents of Mogadishu to beware of a recently uncovered scammers defrauding the displaced people in Mogadishu.

Not only NCRI, but several other governmental agencies in different parts of the country have also issued similar alerts.

As the country is facing severe humanitarian crises and political instability now followed by the COVID-19 crisis, mobile money service is becoming more important than before for the starving people in the country. Mobile money service is also a safer way to support the most vulnerable people in rural areas, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic according to the FAO Somalia, saying they have transferred USD 15.4 million to 429,300 people safely from mid-March when the COVID-19 emergency started in Somalia.

Impersonating utility companies

Although this is not prevalent compared to those mentioned above, but scammers defrauded innocent victims by pretending to be a bill collectors from the local utility company. Scammers call the innocent victims by asking them to pay owed bills to their mobiles or will cut the service. These fraudulent activities particularly affected the utility companies still dependent on individuals for collection of bills from the clients.

ENEE, a public grid company in Bosaso is one of the utilities companies impersonated by scammers and defrauded innocent people in Bosaso. After such fraudulent activities reported by the clients, ENEE issued a public alert informing the public about imposters and to be aware of such scams and ask IDs if approached or called.

Why mobile money scams are on the rise?

The mobile money scams are facilitated by the following factors:-

The mobile money services exist and continue to grow without any regulatory framework, making the system a fragile. For this reason, there is no even a set of procedures or individual identification systems required when opening the service from the telecommunication operators, who are absolutely responsible and run the service with vast sums in circulation without sufficient oversight and control of the concerned government authorities.
Limited public awareness rising about the scams lead the unsuspecting users to be less vigilant and in some instances, they are not aware of reporting procedures. In addition to that, some users also blame the mobile money service providers for practices that does not offer sufficient guarantees to them, slowness and limited punitive actions against scammers when informed about scam transaction and requested to reverse it.
The mobile money operators concentrate more on competition than setting up sufficient mitigatory controls to prevent these fraudulent activities from happening.
Limited collaboration between the service providers and law enforcement institution followed by lack of resources and training of law enforcement are also another factor holding off prosecution of scammers.
The mobile money service providers are reluctant to disclose scam data, fearing of loss of reputation and trust. This makes the matter undisguised despite of the mounting outrageous stories widely circulated and debated across the social media networks.

What can be done?

The scammers will continue to grow taking advantage of the expanding mobile money market and absence of regulation both in relation to mobile money services and associated risks. Furthermore, these fraudulent activities not only threat to the mobile money market, but may add a significant threat to the country’s fragile security and stability if not addressed as soon as possible. While further studies and dialogues are open and needed to find concrete and sustainable way forward, the following solutions are helpful for the time being:-

Adoption of regulatory framework is urgently needed to maintain the security, reliability and sustainability of the industry. Similarly, the third Somalia Economic Update published by the World Bank provides concrete recommendations on introducing mobile money regulation that can boost a secure system for widespread financial inclusion.
The law enforcement institutions need to get the capacity and resources necessary for monitoring and investigating scam and fraud activities to bring criminals to the justice.
The mobile money providers and other users of their platforms, including banks and remittances need to implement mitigatory controls in adherence of financial and user security requirements. The GSMA’s Managing the Risk of Fraud in Mobile can be a helpful to any risk management strategy in mobile money, when combined with the ground facts.
The mobile money service providers and law enforcement agencies also need to form a close collaboration to prevent the scam and fraud activities.
The law enforcement institutions, mobile money providers, users of their platforms such as banks, utility companies and humanitarian agencies need to undertake continued public awareness raising and teaching their clients about the scams and how and where they can report to.