The government of Somaliland, today, Saturday, officially launched a country-wide registration fo public assets – the first if its kind of the fledgling, internationally unrecognized but mature de facto republic.
His Excellency the President, Musa Bihi Abdi, jumpstarted the exercise at a brief ceremony which the Ministry of Public Works organized to mark the event.
President Bihi, speaking to the registration teams, underlined the enormity of the task in hand pointing out the many benefits intrinsically inherent in the task ahead and its completion.
”I believe any plan intending to develop education, health, roads, industrial sector, animal quarantines, marshalling yards..and the like, cannot realistically come off the drawing board without ample space to accommodate it,” he said.
The president went on to say that the tradition which land grabbers developed to claim land that cannot be possibly their by use or by official, legal deeds is no longer an option, and must be done away with.
”Every inch of our public land is being illegally taken. At present cities can hardly find adequate space for, even, garbage dumps. Hilltops and/or plains are equally in the hands of land-grabbers. The registration you are about to put into motion will help us with necessary demarcations between what is perfectly legal as a private property and what is and must remain public,” President Bihi stressed.
The Minister of Public Works, Abdirashid Duale Qambi, said teams will break into smaller units constituting to a total of 85 well-trained employees.
Minister Qambi revealed that the central government will cover financial shortfall if so surfaces.
President Bihi, by sanctioning this novel step, is fulfilling another area in his election campaign manifesto. That he would actively combat corruption and salvage what he could of public lands which fell into the wrong hands were among the few points that strongly appealed to the electorate that voted him on to the highest state position over his WADDANI and UCID contenders.
