Ethiopian ambassador to Somalia expelled

[Gemstone]

Postscript:
Exercise caution in claiming the FGS as if your family business from people, who shed blood, sweat, and many a pretty farthing for its survival and existence when you might have been throwing rocks at it not so long ago (I am concluding that from your line of reasoning and constant usage of 'we' ). It sets precarious precedence, and is a never-ending cycle, where the same, if not worse shall be done unto you on the morrow.

I tend to use the royal "we" and the inclusive "we" interchangeably; it's an old habit, perhaps a remnant of my Xamar dialect. Pay it, no mind.

We in Banaadir have diligently paid much more than our full share of those duties you have mentioned (both in gold and blood), with no rights. Now I might be wrong, but I fail to understand what exactly Puntland has contributed to the federal project this past decade. What federal legislation does it enforce, and what taxes does it pay? What federal guidelines does it follow? I argue you have blatantly ignored your responsibilities and yell only for "rights" allegedly infringed upon.

Surely you agree that the unfair distribution of duties and rights is unjustifiable. How can a collection of individuals achieve a common purpose through the instrument we call "state" when there is one section doing their duties while the others are simply yelling for rights?

I leave my core argument here.

Duties without rights are mere slavery. Similarly, rights without
duties amount to lawlessness. In any civilized society, rights and duties
must go side by side.

One man's right is another man's responsibility. I for one am disillusioned with the actions of PL on the national level. I don't believe PL is in even for a penny, let alone a pound.

 

[Gemstone]

I disagree. The only way to defeat Al-shabab is through a nationally coordinated effort form all the federal states. along the Federal Government. It will take all those to financially and militarily coordinate and work as team. Even if we go by your point, and if you put away your HAG googles and ask average Somali people of their opinion of HSM, i think most will agree that he isn't the type to lead this effort.

Any ragtag group can take land from Shabaab; in order to hold that land, you need to win the support of the locals. The most effective way is what I have listed in the post you have quoted.

 

[cow]

Hassan gurgurte Kismayo miya rabta inu ku qabto xarmaajo wa ku qaban waye u looking for new jubba valley alliance miya kismayo ku qaban maayo boowe marxum hamze o horgal ayu hesta iyo beesha dantada agah awoowega la gubye

No one can be a bigger slave then maxruumka this is USC 2.0 and we have another umar jees.

What we want is simple no more amisom in kismaayo. And the rest will sort itself out.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

I tend to use the royal "we" and the inclusive "we" interchangeably; it's an old habit, perhaps a remnant of my Xamar dialect. Pay it, no mind.

We in Banaadir have diligently paid much more than our full share of those duties you have mentioned (both in gold and blood), with no rights. Now I might be wrong, but I fail to understand what exactly Puntland has contributed to the federal project this past decade. What federal legislation does it enforce, and what taxes does it pay? What federal guidelines does it follow? I argue you have blatantly ignored your responsibilities and yell only for "rights" allegedly infringed upon.

Surely you agree that the unfair distribution of duties and rights is unjustifiable. How can a collection of individuals achieve a common purpose through the instrument we call "state" when there is one section doing their duties while the others are simply yelling for rights?

All right, reasonable questions. Let us begin with the most basic one: Firstly, let draw a distinction between Xamar and Banadir*, and solely speak of Xamar, and with that being the case, Xamar receives nearly 3 billion USD in grants and aid, excluding other budgetary funds from Turkey, UAE, Qatar, Saudia etc (let us estimate that to be another 1bn), all intended for the whole of .So, almost 95% of which is currently expended in those 20 - 30 mile radius of Xamar with not much of it reaching Jawhar let alone Jamaame and farther afield.

In its current form, Xamar generates 300m in revenue out of the said 4bn it receives; now, how much revenue would Xamar be generating had said 4bn being relocated to Baydhaba? This was true when Baydhaba temporarily served as the seat of FGS.

Let me answer that: if we were to justly apportion said 4bn by FMSs, and consider Xamar an FMS, Xamar would get 15% of the said budget, a mere 570+ m instead of 4bn, and if we were then to go by Xamar's current revenue generating formulae, at 8% of said budget, its actual purse, by said formulae, would be 22.5m p.a. To better understand this, all the Federal contracts and services currently awarded to the locals will have gone to citizens elsewhere in the nation. You may ask Khadija Cosoble (was recently appointed an Ambassador), and Jibril (I think he is now Ambassador to Kenya) as to the astronomical numbers you were generating from the FGS in contracts alone.

In other words, reer Xamar (residents of the city) consume the budget for the entire nation, yet gripe about the burden of the Federal institutions of which budget and resources they devour. Do you not see the irony in that?

Do you then agree what you consider to be Xamar's revenue is indeed that of the nation being expended in Xamar whilst the rest of the country is doing by with pittance.

Let us put this to rest at first, and then we shall lance what PL contributes.

------------------------
* Banadir includes Sh Hoose / Dhexe whereas Xamar is, for now, the designated seat of the FGS till that has been codified and agreed upon. And with Sh Dhexe being part of HS, and Sh Hoose in SW, let us confine the scope of our conversation to Xamar, till otherwise has been decided.

 

[Gemstone]

All right, reasonable questions. Let us begin with the most basic one: Firstly, let draw a distinction between Xamar and Banadir*, and solely speak of Xamar, and with that being the case, Xamar receives nearly 3 billion USD in grants and aid, excluding other budgetary funds from Turkey, UAE, Qatar, Saudia etc (let us estimate that to be another 1bn), all intended for the whole of .So, almost 95% of which is currently expended in those 20 - 30 mile radius of Xamar with not much of it reaching Jawhar let alone Jamaame and farther afield.

In its current form, Xamar generates 300m in revenue out of the said 4bn it receives; now, how much revenue would Xamar be generating had said 4bn being relocated to Baydhaba? This was true when Baydhaba temporarily served as the seat of FGS.

Let me answer that: if we were to justly apportion said 4bn by FMSs, and consider Xamar an FMS, Xamar would get 15% of the said budget, a mere 570+ m instead of 4bn, and if we were then to go by Xamar's current revenue generating formulae, at 8% of said budget, its actual purse, by said formulae, would be 22.5m p.a. To better understand this, all the Federal contracts and services currently awarded to the locals will have gone to citizens elsewhere in the nation. You may ask Khadija Cosoble (was recently appointed an Ambassador), and Jibril (I think he is now Ambassador to Kenya) as to the astronomical numbers you were generating from the FGS in contracts alone.

In other words, reer Xamar (residents of the city) consume the budget for the entire nation, yet gripe about the burden of the Federal institutions of which budget and resources they devour. Do you not see the irony in that?

Do you then agree what you consider to be Xamar's revenue is indeed that of the nation being expended in Xamar whilst the rest of the country is doing by with pittance.

Let us put this to rest at first, and then we shall lance what PL contributes.

------------------------
* Banadir includes Sh Hoose / Dhexe whereas Xamar is, for now, the designated seat of the FGS till that has been codified and agreed upon. And with Sh Dhexe being part of HS, and Sh Hoose in SW, let us confine the scope of our conversation to Xamar, till otherwise has been decided.

The whole budget is one billion. With domestic revenue, grants, and budgetary support included. I will not argue about who contributes more to the federal project. It wouldn't be an argument you could hold with your integrity intact.

I don't understand what the appointments of ambassadors by the current administration have to do with anything I've said. If your argument is that FGS is corrupt with the 4.5 system in place, I wholeheartedly agree; it is beyond disgusting of a swamp that is sucking our wealth and giving us(shacab of Banaadir) nothing in return. That's why I welcome the termination of the status quo, by any means necessary.

You didn't address my core argument at all. There can't be rights without duties. Until we see PL staying true to its duties, it can hardly raise any serious hue about rights infringed upon.

I fear we are incapable of having a serious discussion. We can't even agree on the basics, like the 18 gobols mentioned in the interim constitution. How can you shamelessly argue that the current system is so bad for PL and so good for Banaadir that it should be upheld, while your whole case so far has been pro-PL? War Ramadaan wanaagsan adeer.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

The whole budget is one billion. With domestic revenue, grants, and budgetary support included. I will not argue about who contributes more to the federal project. It wouldn't be an argument you could hold with your integrity intact.

There is the documented FGS budget (1bn), and then there are undocumented funds (=> 4bn), some of which come in duffel bags stacked in cash. I was being conservative in estimating it at 4bn, as it is much more than that. I am not even accounting for funds for AtMis. Now, do you disagree all those funds are expended in Xamar, which gives Xamar unjust advantage over other cities?

I don't understand what the appointments of ambassadors by the current administration have to do with anything I've said.

They bought their positions with monies milked from the FGS udder, hence the relevance.

You didn't address my core argument at all. There can't be rights without duties. Until we see PL staying true to its duties, it can hardly raise any serious hue about rights infringed upon.

I did say, we shall come back to the PL questions, one subject at a time.

I fear we are incapable of having a serious discussion. We can't even agree on the basics, like the 18 gobols mentioned in the interim constitution.

What is the concern with the 18 regions? Do you not consider Xamar the nation's capital?

How can you shamelessly argue that the current system is so bad for PL and so good for Banaadir that it should be upheld, while your whole case so far has been pro-PL?

Do you disagree with the FGS budget slicing?
What in my previous points were pro-PL?

Postscript:
Again, how do you plan to get rid of the 4.5 system?

 

[JamalFarah]

All right, reasonable questions. Let us begin with the most basic one: Firstly, let draw a distinction between Xamar and Banadir*, and solely speak of Xamar, and with that being the case, Xamar receives nearly 3 billion USD in grants and aid, excluding other budgetary funds from Turkey, UAE, Qatar, Saudia etc (let us estimate that to be another 1bn), all intended for the whole of .So, almost 95% of which is currently expended in those 20 - 30 mile radius of Xamar with not much of it reaching Jawhar let alone Jamaame and farther afield.

In its current form, Xamar generates 300m in revenue out of the said 4bn it receives; now, how much revenue would Xamar be generating had said 4bn being relocated to Baydhaba? This was true when Baydhaba temporarily served as the seat of FGS.

Let me answer that: if we were to justly apportion said 4bn by FMSs, and consider Xamar an FMS, Xamar would get 15% of the said budget, a mere 570+ m instead of 4bn, and if we were then to go by Xamar's current revenue generating formulae, at 8% of said budget, its actual purse, by said formulae, would be 22.5m p.a. To better understand this, all the Federal contracts and services currently awarded to the locals will have gone to citizens elsewhere in the nation. You may ask Khadija Cosoble (was recently appointed an Ambassador), and Jibril (I think he is now Ambassador to Kenya) as to the astronomical numbers you were generating from the FGS in contracts alone.

In other words, reer Xamar (residents of the city) consume the budget for the entire nation, yet gripe about the burden of the Federal institutions of which budget and resources they devour. Do you not see the irony in that?

Do you then agree what you consider to be Xamar's revenue is indeed that of the nation being expended in Xamar whilst the rest of the country is doing by with pittance.

Let us put this to rest at first, and then we shall lance what PL contributes.

------------------------
* Banadir includes Sh Hoose / Dhexe whereas Xamar is, for now, the designated seat of the FGS till that has been codified and agreed upon. And with Sh Dhexe being part of HS, and Sh Hoose in SW, let us confine the scope of our conversation to Xamar, till otherwise has been decided.

Just to butt in on your first alinea, if you could enlighten me or share sources that point to the contradictory of the conclusion that I made, that would be great. Just to make sure, I hope you don't see this as a personal attack, as so many on here seem to do.

The Federal Somalia budget, which also includes accounts of grants totaling around 1 billion a third of which is raised in Mogadishu, mentions Turkey and UAE directly. You made the argument that the donations made by Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia total around an extra one billion for the city of Xamar, or an extra one billion that gets cooped by Xamar. Turkey is contributing $30 million in the form of budget support, followed by the United Arab Emirates offering $38.1 million to the federal budget. The federal government, which has to spend money on international relations, has to subdivide the money between itself and the FMS. Saying that the federal government receives less money than the money donated to Xamar is incredible strange, especially considering Xamar has substantially fewer obligations.

So I assume you mean the aid allocation that the international organizations provide towards Somalia being coopted. Now we do have a source for that, and those paint a different picture.

The peak in 2020 is what I assume to be support made for both the coronavirus and famine. But if we compare the allocations for BRA (Banaadir Regional Administration- Limited to your definition (and mine) of Xamar) and Puntland, we see that as of 2021, BRA actually received less of the aid allocation. This is on top of the $300 million generated in taxes taken away from the city that was used to fund the federal government.

Let's proceed to investigate where the claim of $4 billion being reallocated, with roughly 95% ""directed to Mogadishu"""", originates. It doesn't seem to come from the aid allocation, perhaps its from the grant heavy budget? Perhaps we can find evidence supporting this assertion within the $1 billion budget, wherein remember one-third is contributed by Mogadishu and subsequently utilized.

Once more, upon reviewing the most recent budget allocation data, we find no evidence to support the claim; in fact, Puntland appears to be leading.

While I dont want to bore you out of your mind, retelling you what the sources say, the allocation of the rest of the budget cannot directly or indirectly be tied as "being spend on Xamar (the city). Administration leading with over 350 million of the budget.

Again, no sight to see of either the $4billion coopted by Xamar or even disproportionate favortism when it comes to budget allocations.

Now I looked around, trying to find the $4 billion being spend on Mogadishu, all we have is this quote.

"...Since 2006, the U.S. has given more than $3 billion in humanitarian aid and $253 million in developmental aid since 2011. ".
The $3 billion figure refers to the cumulative aid given to Somalia in total. Furthermore, for the initial five to six years, approximately around 2011-2012, Mogadishu was a warzone with a significant presence of al-Shabaab in and around the city.

There is very little evidence to support the notion that Mogadishu receives more than its fair share of aid. This does not contradict claims made by Puntland stating that the federal government has ceased aid since 2023. However, attempting to merge the latter claim with a prior false claim of systematic overconsumption of aid funds by Xamar only serves to undermine the argument regarding recent budgetary warfare against Puntland.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

Just to butt in on your first alinea, if you could enlighten me or share sources that point to the contradictory of the conclusion that I made, that would be great. Just to make sure, I hope you don't see this as a personal attack, as so many on here seem to do.

Not at all. Let me reiterate funds documented and declared as line items in the budget vs undocumented funds including, but not limited to licencing, contracts etc, which are hardly declared, and never make into the budget, not for FGS, nor for FMSs. Another is the funds the DoD (US) funnels in under the pretense of the war on terror. Defence budgets for Turkey and UAE alone are in the billions. Qatar maintains a compound in Xamar with similar budget, if not more. There was a report by PwC to that effect in 2021-2022.The referenced report does not speak to that, but details the intended breakdown of the 1bn. And by Xamar, I am speaking of the FGS.

How much of the 1bn national budget is spent outside of Xamar?

By the way, most of the grants/funds allocated for PL have not been released staring with the previous Admin. PL's Treasurer spoke to that effect.

Postscript:
Humanitarian aid from the UN and its agencies is not relevant to the discussion.

 

[JamalFarah]

Not at all. Let me reiterate funds documented and declared as line items in the budget vs undocumented funds including, but not limited to licencing, contracts etc, which are hardly declared, and never make into the budget, not for FGS, nor for FMSs. Another is the funds the DoD (US) funnels in under the pretense of the war on terror. There was a report by PwC to that effect in 2021-2022.The referenced report does not speak to that, but details the intended breakdown of the 1bn. And by Xamar, I am speaking of the FGS.

How much of the 1bn national budget is spent outside of Xamar?

By the way, most of the grants/funds allocated for PL have not been released staring with the previous Admin. PL's Treasurer spoke to that effect.

Postscript:
Humanitarian aid from the UN and its agencies is not relevant to the discussion.

Making a claim like saying approximately $4 billion worth of aid, in which 95% of it gets swallowed up by Xamar, requires a solid source to back it up.

Even if it's an estimation, the reasoning and calculation (hopefully by someone a bit credible) for it should be given, to give this point credence. Why $4 billion specifically and not $2-3 billion or $6-7 billion? Why 95% and not 50% or 99%? Where does this claim originate from? The assertion that four times the national budget has disappeared is secretely being funneled to Mogadishu is an incredible claim in itself, and that western partners are implicitly complicit in this make this enter the realm of the conspiratorial.

I'm sorry, but it feels like your coming to me empty handed and saying "trust me bro".

If you're claiming it's also "undocumented" at this point, its a sourceless argument, any claim can be made and said to be "undocumented" how could you even provide a figure if there is no documentation, and would we even believe the assertion, we've got nothing to nudge anyone to believe this? Spinning a hypothesis about what the $4 billion is made up of is not at all satisfactory. You mentioned PwC supposedly mentioning this, but I couldn't find any such reference. I wonder if it would even pertain to Somalia, and wouldn't the disappeared money potentially be spent on the defense industry instead of an African city thousands of miles away?

>Humanitarian aid from the UN and its agencies is not relevant to the discussion.

The report was produced by the UN and encompasses both humanitarian and development projects. It is not a specific breakdown of aid provided solely by the UN; rather, it provides an overview of all aid contributions from various countries and organizations to Somalia.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

The more important question I was hoping you would wrestle with is the dispensation of the 1bn national budget, and how very little of it leaves Xamar, very pertinent to the point of discussion. Perhaps you could make an attempt?

Making a claim like saying approximately $4 billion worth of aid, in which 95% of it gets swallowed up by Xamar, requires a solid source to back it up.

Even if it's an estimation, the reasoning and calculation (hopefully by someone a bit credible) for it should be given, to give this point credence. Why $4 billion specifically and not $2-3 billion or $6-7 billion? Why 95% and not 50% or 99%? Where does this claim originate from? The assertion that four times the national budget has disappeared is secretely being funneled to Mogadishu is an incredible claim in itself, and that western partners are implicitly complicit in this make this enter the realm of the conspiratorial.

I'm sorry, but it feels like your coming to me empty handed and saying "trust me bro".

If you're claiming it's also "undocumented" at this point, its a sourceless argument, any claim can be made and said to be "undocumented" how could you even provide a figure if there is no documentation, and would we even believe the assertion, we've got nothing to nudge anyone to believe this? Spinning a hypothesis about what the $4 billion is made up of is not at all satisfactory. You mentioned PwC supposedly mentioning this, but I couldn't find any such reference. I wonder if it would even pertain to Somalia, and wouldn't the disappeared money potentially be spent on the defense industry instead of an African city thousands of miles away?

The intent was not for you to take what was said at face value, but for awareness and relevance of what is being discussed, where in a nation where not much is documented, funneling billions with no trace is a common practice, which becomes more evident when one visits the country and observes the lack of traceability, accountability, visibility, or recordability. Planes loaded off with duffel bags full of 100$ bills in and out of airports in a broad daylight is just one instance. With connections on the ground, and with their fingertips at the till, it further becomes more evident.

 

[Fisherman 75]

The more important question I was hoping you would wrestle with is the dispensation of the 1bn national budget, and how very little of it leaves Xamar, very pertinent to the point of discussion. Perhaps you could make an attempt?


The intent was not for you to take what was said at face value, but for awareness and relevance of what is being discussed, where in a nation where not much is documented, funneling billions with no trace is a common practice, which becomes more evident when one visits the country and observes the lack of traceability, accountability, visibility, or recordability. Planes loaded off with duffel bags full of 100$ bills in and out of airports in a broad daylight is just one instance. With connections on the ground, and with their fingertips at the till, it further becomes more evident.

you still haven't provided a source for your $4 billion dollar is taken by Xamar claim.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Not at all. Let me reiterate funds documented and declared as line items in the budget vs undocumented funds including, but not limited to licencing, contracts etc, which are hardly declared, and never make into the budget, not for FGS, nor for FMSs. Another is the funds the DoD (US) funnels in under the pretense of the war on terror. Defence budgets for Turkey and UAE alone are in the billions. Qatar maintains a compound in Xamar with similar budget, if not more. There was a report by PwC to that effect in 2021-2022.The referenced report does not speak to that, but details the intended breakdown of the 1bn. And by Xamar, I am speaking of the FGS.

How much of the 1bn national budget is spent outside of Xamar?

By the way, most of the grants/funds allocated for PL have not been released staring with the previous Admin. PL's Treasurer spoke to that effect.

Postscript:
Humanitarian aid from the UN and its agencies is not relevant to the discussion.

what @Gemstone and @JamalFarah do not want to understand is that Xamar is a net beneficiary even though it is the only state that pays taxes to the FGS.

1. All revenue collected by the FGS, this includes overflight revenue, passport fees, Banadir port&airport revenue, various fees in Banadir etc.. was $283 million in 2023.
2. Total wage bill (salaries) of FGS employees was $281 million in 2023. These employees are ~85% Hawiye.
3. The FGS had an operating budget of $480 million in 2023. So donors granted the FGS ~$200 million to fill the gap. This was to fund “use of goods and services” used by the FGS. Hotel fees, fuel for cars, FGS employee travel expenses, rent etc..These goods and services are provided by businesses and people based in Banadir (the vast majority of these businesses are owned & staffed by Hawiye).

~$200 million is injected into Banadir’s economy each year by virture of being the capital. This is ignoring the $497 million pool of money that is donor-funded special projects and the benefits Xamar derives there.

While Hawiye elites are reaping this bonanza, they simultaneously want to block Puntland from receiving budget support and development projects. why are they blocking Puntland from receiving aid? Because Puntland disagrees fundamentally with their vision for Somalia’s constitutional framework.

tl;dr Somalia’s budget was $950.7 million in 2023. $667 million of that was foreign aid. Most of that foreign aid is consumed inside Banadir when it should be shared.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

you still haven't provided a source for your $4 billion dollar is taken by Xamar claim.

All in good time, and one item at a time. Now, with @Gemstone off in huff and puff, @JamalFarah in a pondering mode, do you want to make an attempt at how the 1bn national budget is being dispensed, and how much of it leaves Xamar?

tl;dr Somalia’s budget was $950.7 million in 2023. $667 million of that was foreign aid. Most of that foreign aid is consumed inside Banadir when it should be shared.

And the projection this year is that 990+ m [ 990,400,000.00 to be more precise ] of the 1bn national budget shall be expended in Xamar.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

All in good time, and one item at a time. Now, with @Gemstone off in huff and puff, @JamalFarah in a pondering mode, do you want to make an attempt at how the 1bn national budget is being dispensed, and how much of it leaves Xamar?


And the projection this year is that 990+ m [ 990,400,000.00 to be more precise ] of the 1bn national budget shall be expended in Xamar.

They keep saying “Xamar taxpayers” as if anyone cares about the revenue collected in Banadir. The whole disagreement is about how much foreign aid actually leaves Banadir.

The FGS basically functions as a Hawiy FMS in terms of employment and in who it buys goods & services from given the mono-tribal nature of Banadir’s political economy.

This is going to be a long term problem for Puntland. We will be part of a country that receives development aid in our name, but where we don’t actually benefit all that much from said aid. You can already see a similar dynamic inside Banadir itself, where D&M IDPs remain malnourished, even though the FGS is receiving hundreds of millions of $ to feed them. D&M kids 5 KMs from the port of Mogadishu have malnutrition rates similar to South Sudan.

Puntland needs to speak with donors and request that it receives its aid directly rather than through the FGS. We can’t have our development tied to whether or not the FGS likes us or not.

 

[JamalFarah]

The more important question I was hoping you would wrestle with is the dispensation of the 1bn national budget, and how very little of it leaves Xamar, very pertinent to the point of discussion. Perhaps you could make an attempt?


The intent was not for you to take what was said at face value, but for awareness and relevance of what is being discussed, where in a nation where not much is documented, funneling billions with no trace is a common practice, which becomes more evident when one visits the country and observes the lack of traceability, accountability, visibility, or recordability. Planes loaded off with duffel bags full of 100$ bills in and out of airports in a broad daylight is just one instance. With connections on the ground, and with their fingertips at the till, it further becomes more evident.

Sometimes, people overlook the obvious fact that Xamar is the capital and naturally reaps the benefits associated with being one. The reality is, whether it's in Garowe, Kismayo, Baidoa, Boroma, or Hargeisa, if any of these cities were the capital, locals there would also enjoy similar advantages. It's unreasonable to label this as "unfair" simply because politicians residing in any capital contribute money to the local community.

When you question how little of the one billion doesn't leave Xamar, it is not true. It's evident that the notion of the remaining ~667 million being spent solely in Xamar is misleading. It makes me wonder if you've read my initial post or are merely arguing for the sake of arguing, hastily formulating arguments to keep it going.

If you had read the initial post and delved into the sources provided, you would see a clear breakdown of the budget. Out of the remaining 667 million that is made up of grants, 255 million goes to defense and security, around 100 million is allocated to the Federal Member States (FMS), and 382 million is designated for administration, including salaries for parliamentarians and governmental employees.

It's a fact that when the federal government partners with the private sector, whether it's a catering shop or any other business, it typically operates in Mogadishu. While this may seem obvious, what's unfair about it? Should chauffeurs, cooks, and speechwriters for parliamentarians be selected based on clan affiliations to avoid undue economic gains for one group? Besides, its far from just the "locals", a euphimism for Hawiye, that fall get these jobs.

We have devolved from "Xamar secretly funnels 4 billion for itself" to "It's unfair that Xamar is the capital".

Unlike Xamar, Puntland collects its own taxes and hasn't contributed to the federal pool. This mixing of arguments, jumping from "Xamar gets too much" to empower the argument that "Puntland gets too little," lacks continuity. Xamars budget is dependent on what the FGS allocates, Puntlands isn't. Besides ive posted earlier, that until 2021-2022 Puntland seemed to have gained plenty of the developmental aid.

There's no mention of it being the largest city historically centered on the Somali coast as being the reason for its economic rise in the last decade or the heightened cost of living and security risks due to being a prime target for Al-Shabaab, because its the capital.

It feels like I am arguing against quick sand, jumping around answering one question only be given another, not a moment taken and all of this

@Thegoodshepherd going from Xamar to Hawiye and mixing those turns just complicates and ads a tribal layer the topic. Most of everything you've said I've already talked about in my initial post. Your entire argument is "Xamar benefits because its the capital, thats not fair!"
You seem to want the goverment expenditures in the private sector to follow a 4.5 model.

I am not saying you should write like me, but when you start shooting a bunch of statements, linking a couple source would be very helpful.

 

[IKHALIIL]

Total wage bill (salaries) of FGS employees was $281 million in 2023. These employees are ~85% Hawiye.

Government workers are hired based on 4.5

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

@JamalFarah
Puntland contributing to the FGS has no bearing on whether or not $20.5 million is a fair share for Puntland of $319 million recieved in foreign aid in 2022.

I may seem crazy for saying this, but I don’t think that Puntland getting 6.4% of foreign aid is acceptable.

 

[JamalFarah]

Puntland contributing to the FGS has no bearing on whether or not $20.5 million is a fair share for Puntland of $319 million recieved in foreign aid in 2022.

I may seem crazy for saying this, but I don’t think that Puntland getting 6.4% of foreign aid is acceptable.

We are talking in a circle, and third-party observers can read this thread and form their own opinions. It is essential always to contextualize the numbers; for instance, Puntland receives the most from the relatively small SFG budget allocated to the FMS at about 20% of the entire budget, in addition to over 247 million allocated as recently as 2022 for aid. The fact that Somalia is poor is evident; for instance, Hiirshabelle receives only 10 million.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

We are talking in a circle, and third-party observers can read this thread and form their own opinions. It is essential always to contextualize the numbers; for instance, Puntland receives the most from the relatively small SFG budget allocated to the FMS at about 20% of the entire budget, in addition to over 247 million allocated as recently as 2022 for aid. The fact that Somalia is poor is evident; for instance, Hiirshabelle receives only 10 million.

Somalia got $319 million in aid. The FGS kept $210 million for itself and divided $109 million among the FMS.

I see that $210 million as an unreasonable share for Hawiye. You are Hawiye and disagree with that assessment. That is understandable.

 

[0117]

Somalia got $319 million in aid. The FGS kept $210 million for itself and divided $109 million among the FMS.

I see that $210 million as an unreasonable share for Hawiye. You are Hawiye and disagree with that assessment. That is understandable.

That's not true as the aid/grants listed in the FGS budget are projects that are disbursed across Somalia such as "Biyoole" and "JPLG" that even accounts for Somaliland.

Here's an extract for world bank aid/grants for projects in Puntland 2023 that was listed in Puntland Budget 2023.The figures here contribute to the total figures listed in FGS budget that you seem to assume is just for Mogadishu.

You can't share a source of the exact figures of the aid/grants that is dispersed in Mogadishu?

So why even entertain this topic with no facts or figures.