MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has sparked outrage by bolstering a fundraising campaign aimed at building a lavish house for him in Mogadishu’s green-zone, as hunger haunts millions of people in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.
In an interview with Universal TV, a spokesman for Farmajo Abdirashid Mohamed Hashi said the outgoing leader had given the green light for an initiative to construct a luxury home for him in reward for his “good governance”.
But for many, including the supporters of the new President, the explanation has not been sufficient, with many alleging that the move is a cover-up scheme aimed to deflect attention from millions of dollars that went missing from the state coffers during Farmajo’s term.
Garowe Online news website has recently quoted sources as saying that Farmajo has stacks of cash trapped in Mogadishu following the recent election, adding that he intends to launder dirty cash and make it a legitimate money.
Many of the former president’s critics have raised questions about why he needs to get a house built from the cash of poor Somali citizens when he outmaneuvered his opponents in bribe payments on the eve of recent vote and paid close to $100,000 for each of dozens of parliamentary seats to swing votes in favor of his allies.
“Third generation of Somali’s being born into refugee camps in Kenya, the youth are dying on foreign shores searching for opportunities & a raging drought is killing humans & livestock. Yet, he is fundraising for a former President, PM, US civil servant. Is this real?,” former Minister of Commerce Khadra Duale tweeted.
Somali lawyer Mokhtar Nur said the former president must be tried for crimes perpetrated during his tenure and called for probe into millions of US dollars stolen from state coffers. The ongoing fundraising campaign, he added, is aimed at whitewashing money looted from the state.
Contact us: info@somaliguardian.com
