By Abdirizak Ibrahim: Somalia has launched a significant new phase of its public-sector reform agenda, moving to make merit, competence and open competition the basis for recruitment and advancement across the federal civil service.
On 17 September 2026, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre directed federal ministries and government institutions to implement a merit-based system of recruitment and appointment without delay. The first phase, scheduled to begin on 20 September, will focus on departmental directors across government institutions, before a second phase extends the reform to directors-general.
The announcement is important not simply because it changes how senior administrative positions will be filled, but because of what it signals about the direction of Somalia’s state building agenda. The government is attempting to shift the civil service towards a system in which professional advancement is increasingly tied to qualifications, competence, experience, performance and leadership rather than discretionary access to positions.
In his announcement, Barre placed the initiative within a wider programme of reforms pursued by his government over the past four years. He pointed to a series of laws, policies, regulations and institutional frameworks covering government organisation, integrated performance management, open competition, salary and grade harmonisation, pensions and civil-service administration. The stated objective is to build a professional public service founded on competence, experience, integrity, fairness and accountability.
The Prime Minister’s central argument was that establishing the legal architecture is no longer sufficient. The next challenge is implementation.
Building the institutional foundation first
The decision to begin with departmental directors is deliberate. Departmental directors form a critical layer of government administration. They lead teams, manage institutional functions, implement policies, translate ministerial priorities into activities and maintain continuity in the everyday work of government.
The Prime Minister’s speech describes them as the administrative backbone of government institutions and argues that professionalising this level first will establish a stronger foundation upon which subsequent reforms can be built.
Under the first phase, departmental director positions will be filled through an internal open competitive process. Qualified serving civil servants will have an equal opportunity to compete, with selection based on knowledge, experience, competence, merit, equality and fairness. Vacant civil-service positions are likewise expected to be filled competitively in accordance with the country’s laws and regulations.
This creates an important new proposition for Somalia’s public servants: career progression should increasingly be something that can be earned.
A civil servant should be able to develop professionally, demonstrate performance, compete fairly and progress into leadership because of capability—not because of proximity to decision-makers.
That principle has implications far beyond the vacancies being filled today. Over time, it can change incentives throughout the civil service.
The next frontier: senior administrative leadership
Once the first phase has been implemented, the reform is expected to move to directors general of ministries and government institutions.
At that level, the government intends to reinforce the principle that senior administrative leadership should be based on competence, knowledge, professional experience, leadership, performance and merit, through processes consistent with Somalia’s constitutional and legal framework.
The sequencing is significant.
Rather than treating meritocracy as a one-off recruitment exercise, the government is attempting to build it progressively into the administrative hierarchy: strengthen the management layer, establish credible competitive procedures and then extend those principles into senior leadership.
The intended outcome is a professional administrative leadership capable of translating government policy into results that citizens can see and experience.
Building institutions that outlast individuals
This is where the reform assumes a wider state-building significance.
Governments change. Ministers change. Senior political priorities evolve. Institutions must endure.
A functioning state therefore requires more than capable political leadership. It requires a professional administrative system that preserves institutional memory, maintains continuity, provides technical expertise and carries government programmes from one political cycle to another.
For Somalia, this is particularly important.
Building institutions that outlast individuals means gradually reducing the dependence of government performance on particular personalities. It means developing rules, professional standards, systems and institutional capabilities that continue functioning regardless of who occupies a particular office.
Merit-based recruitment contributes to that objective because it addresses one of the most fundamental determinants of institutional quality: who is entrusted with responsibility.
The reform therefore asks a straightforward but consequential question:
Should advancement in government depend primarily on who someone knows—or on what that person knows, what they have achieved and what they are capable of delivering?
The direction of the new policy is clear.
Meritocracy as an investment in state capability
Civil-service reform can sometimes appear less visible than roads, hospitals, schools or major infrastructure projects. Yet the effectiveness of all those investments ultimately depends upon government capability.
Infrastructure must be planned and procured. Schools require administration. Health programmes need coordination. Investments require regulation. Public finances must be managed. Digital platforms need institutional ownership. National policies must be translated into implementation.
Behind each of those functions are public institutions—and behind those institutions are people.
Merit-based recruitment is therefore not simply an employment reform. It is an investment in state capability.
A more capable civil service can improve the government’s ability to design policy, manage resources, implement projects, regulate markets, negotiate internationally and provide services.
It also creates a more credible career pathway for a new generation of Somali professionals.
A young civil servant entering government should be able to look ahead and believe that professional development, integrity and performance can lead to greater responsibility. That expectation is itself an institutional asset because it creates incentives to learn, perform and remain within public service.
A reform designed for the future
The significance of the 17 September announcement will therefore not be determined by a single recruitment round.
Institutional transformation takes time.
Rules become processes. Processes become routines. Routines establish expectations. And, when applied consistently, those expectations eventually become institutional culture.
The longer-term ambition is a Somali civil service in which competence creates opportunity, performance enables progression, leadership carries accountability and institutions become stronger than the individuals who temporarily lead them.
That is also why beginning with departmental directors matters. The government is starting with the administrative layer responsible for turning policy into implementation, before moving upward to directors-general and deeper into the senior leadership architecture.
The Prime Minister summarised the philosophy at the conclusion of his announcement:
“Strong government begins with strong institutions; strong institutions begin with employees selected on knowledge, competence and merit.”
By Abdirizak Ibrahim |Deputy PS, Office of the Prime Minister