Corruption in President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s administration is becoming more blatant and without regard to the rule of law. Once again, it is Minister Farah Sheikh Abdikadir of the Ministry of Education in the middle of this blatant corruption case by establishing TASDIIQ COMPANY, a public notary.
Minister Farah Abdikadir established his TASDIIQ COMPANY on 12 May 2024, with the sole purpose of notarizing all of Somalia’s education certificates for a fee of $45 per certificate. Certification fee in the amount of $20 per certificate were previously charged by the Ministry of Education and directly deposited in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Somalia.
Minister Farah Abdikadir, per agreement with the same Ministry of Education he heads, contracted the certification and fee collections process to his own newly established TASDIIQ COMPANY. As such, Funds are no longer deposited in the CBS TSA, and per agreement with his Ministry, the $20 government fee will supposedly be returned back to the Ministry, whereas the additional $25 fee per certificate will be kept by Minister Farah Abdikadir and his TASDIIQ COMPANY.
Within a day of establishing TASDIIQ COMPANY, Minister Ahmed Fiqi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered or consented to his Ministry to follow suit as the Ministry of Education and deposit the Ministry’s certification fees with TASDIIQ COMPANY. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs charges $25 for certification of students diplomas and other foreign travel related certificates.
Per anonymous sources at the Central Bank, no certification fees by the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been deposited at the Treasury Single Account since mid-May to date.
We asked Members of Parliament if any rules have been broken by the two Ministries and by Minister Farah Abdikadir by circumventing the government revenue collections process by having government revenues deposited in their newly established and privately owned company accounts.
MPs who are privy to these corruption cases tell Daljir that both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have broken the procurement act of 2019 with no bid contracts and by giving a contract to a company that has just been established in May this year. Per the Procurement Act of 2019, a company can only bid a government contract if it has existed a minimum of a period of 2 months. TASDIIQ COMPANY was established on 12 May 2024 and the contract was given within a day of being established.
According to same MPs, the two Ministers have also broken the appropriation act of 2023 by collecting government revenues without parliamentary approval.
We have reached out to both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we have yet to receive a response.
From the Central Bank data we have been given access to, from January to December 2023 on behalf of the Ministry of Education deposited the following funds have been deposited in the Treasury Single Account:
ID: 0029788
Date: 28-Dec-2023
Description: MoE Revenues
Office: Accountant General
Reference: 0100821
Amount: US$6,850.00
GRAND TOTAL: US$ 218,150
With a fee of $20 per certificate that amounts to 10,907 certified diplomas. However, the Ministry of Education will not share with Daljir how many diplomas the Ministry certified in 2023.
As for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the following data is available at the Central Bank:
ID: 0029787
Date: 28-Dec-2023
Description: MoA Revenues
Office: Accountant General
Reference: 0100820
Amount: US$16,745
GRAND TOTAL: US$403,660
With a certification fee of $25 each, we estimate 16,146 various certificates were issued, and with no confirmation as to how many were actually certified by the Ministry versus how much was deposited in the TSA. There is also no information available as of yet to confirm the certification process and related embezzlement of certification funds by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Contributed to by Daljir staff in Garoowe and Mogadishu
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