The Somaliland Ministry of Employment, Family and Social Affairs, Monday, urged all United Nations agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations to follow the Somaliland Labour Code in employment issues.
The ministry asked employers to notify it of vacancies so, together, the two sides make certain that the post is adequately advertised and that the right person for the right job is employed.
“The Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Family instructs all of the above organizations to consult and submit to the ministry..all matters relating to the recruitment of employees in order to ensure effective and fair recruitment..applied accordingly with Somaliland labour regulation,” the Ministry statement said.
“The Somaliland Labour Code No 31/2014 is the main Employment Law in Somaliland and applies to all employees, with the exception of public employees who come under the Civil Service legislation. The act deals with the minimum rights of employees, recruitment, contracts of employment, health & safety at work, settlement of employment disputes, employment registration, trade unions, the rights and duties of employees and employers, the role of the Labour Office, Skills training and remuneration, work permits for foreign employees etc. We are now in the process of reviewing the act,” following the publication of the statement, the Director-General, Abdirashid Ibrahim, Abdirahman, posted on his LinkedIn account
Although almost 90% – if not more – of job openings go to Mogadishu and its satellite, federal states, the UN and INGOs, particularly, had time and again been accused of favouring non-nationals over Somalis in both of Somaliland and Somalia.
The way job descriptions, the first to tackle in in the arduous process of applying for a job posting, either eliminate the chances of nationals by the way they are drafted, the number of years of prior employment required, the kind of skills – most of which cannot be acquired here – stipulated and, more often than not, the low salaries offered to nationals as opposed to the high rate and benefits offered non-nationals.
As a result, skilled and educated Somalilanders and Somalians remain unemployed and excluded while jobs undertaken on their home turf are offered to young, hardly-out-of-school foreign nationals who, barricaded behind high-security compounds, can only push paper on programmes whose beneficiaries they are only acquainted with on the Internet.
The new ministry instruction was widely welcomed nationwide in Somaliland.
Message loud & Clear!
Many of us had been decrying the absence of employment accountability on the part of UN and int'l orgs. When a 'Lander cannot be recruited here to manage an INGO/IGAD/UN jon in another country, why bring foreign nationals to fill vacancies in @Somaliland? https://t.co/TUxoKaXGn7
— Hassan Heiss (@JIbrahimj) October 2, 2019
Reinforcement Letter of #Somaliland Labour Law Recruitment Procedure.
Step forward, thank you Director General, Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs & Family Mr. Abdirashid Ibrahim.@cabdirashed @slmesaf pic.twitter.com/1uzuhMpj05
— Omer Aden Ruush (@omer_ruush) October 2, 2019
From the #Somaliland government to the International Organisations: Well done @slmesaf @cabdirashed pic.twitter.com/tJNHXl351O
— Barkhad M. Kaariye (@BarkhadKaariye) October 2, 2019
