When pressed on the mass sale of government land to shrewd, often crafty businessmen, displacing thousands of civilians, the Prime Minister stumbled. He tried to whitewash it, then pivoted to full-blown offense. At one point, visibly irritated, he snapped: “You’re not an accountant, you’re not the Auditor General either…” Instead of accountability, the nation got defensiveness. Instead of answers, a public quarrel. What was billed as a town hall looked more like a fadhi-ku-dirir session, loud words, little substance.
The government’s foremost duty is to safeguard the welfare of its citizens and ensure public resources serve the public good. Yet, selling land and in the process uprooting the poor reveals the opposite. That’s abuse of office, unrestrained greed, and corruption running wild.
There is no land commission, and no independent body at all that is mandated to transparently oversee the sale of public land. Some politicians and Members of Parliament have already called out that the proceeds from these sales never make it into the national treasury. They don’t appear in the budgets of 2022, 2023, 2024, or even 2025. So tell me, what do you call that? If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… and hey, It doesn’t take an accountant to understand that, Mr. Prime Minister, does it?
When asked about the loss of confidence from Puntland and Jubaland, the Prime Minister’s response was even more telling. In Somalia’s clan-based power-sharing structure, the Prime Minister does, in fact, represent these two states.
What makes it worse is the irony that Hamza himself entered politics as a parliamentarian from Jubaland. To now disown that role is not just evasive, it is political amnesia. Somalis have long memories. We remember he was part of the state-level electoral team for Jubaland, where it’s alleged that… well, that’s a story for another day.
This was all an act, a political charade. It was a staged performance, a political charade, one that failed to impress.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Somali Stream.