By Rashid Nur  

Hargeysa, Somaliland. 16 August 2008 - Last week, the lower house of parliament heard testimonies concerning the current crises in the country’s livestock trade from government ministers, the chamber of commerce, company agents of Al-Jabiri and local livestock traders against the ‘Al-Jabiri’ government sponsored livestock deal.  

Throughout the house’s hearing, MP’s tried in vain to establish the government agency under which this commercial contract was signed by in 2007, when, the government, had contracted an exclusive export livestock agreement with the Saudi businessman, Mr Suleiman Al-Jabiri, which gave ‘Al-Jabiri’ the sole rights to ship Somaliland livestock from any port in the country to the Saudi market.  

Testimonies given by those ministries and state organs directly linked or responsible for the country’s livestock trade and industry claimed that they were not the contracting parties or agencies [of the government] who made this deal with Al-Jabiri.  

The weeklong hearing came as a result of months of wrangling between the government and the coalition of local livestock traders attempt’s to break the government imposed restrictions ‘on local and foreign firms from shipping livestock to Saudi Arabia’ and led the coalition, bent on exporting their livestock to Saudi Arabia, to amass [from July] just under 15,000 heads of goats/sheep in Berbera. Regardless of the government’s blockade of the port and its facilities, the coalition refused to budge and penned their animals inside the town’s livestock holding pens.  

The very first high ranking government official to be summoned by the hearing and appeared before the house was the minister of Commerce, Mr Osman Qodah. The minister seemed a little unease with MP’s questioning his role in all this. In more than one instance, the minister said to MP’s “you are asking me questions, which you should really be asking the president and not me”.  

Qodah infatuated, that ‘he or his ministry had nothing to do with the deal, but merely was called upon to give [sign] his ministerial consent to the deal’ which the minister claimed “was no more than just, an administrative part of his ministerial duties, as the Commerce minister”.  

The minister of Commerce, when asked by the house ‘who was exactly, the party to this deal with Al-Jabiri?’ The minister replied “local businessmen signed with Al-Jabiri this deal and they are the chief party to this deal”.  

MP’s asked who these businessmen were and the minister replied “the country/company agents of Al-Jabiri”.  

MP’s questioned Mr Qodah “as to why he hasn’t submitted this commercial agreement which the government/businessmen signed with Al-Jabiri in order for the house to ratify and endorse it, as stipulated, in the constitution?”  

The minister of Commerce stressed that this was not his duty; “my duty and role as a cabinet minister is to submit the agreement to the council of ministers who then endorse it for the president to sign it and from there the president forward’s the agreement for parliament to endorse or reject”.  

The following day, the minister of Livestock, Mr Idris Ibrahim Abdi, appeared before the house to answer MP’s questions on the al-Jabiri deal. The minister declared that his ministry’s role in all this was to supervise [sign] parts of the agreement which concerned the livestock quarantine and veterinary facilities which according to the agreement Al-Jabiri was going to build in Berbera, costing $5 million.  

When asked by the house whether his ministry was responsible for implementing this agreement on behalf of the government, Mr Abdi replied “no, but the deal was implemented by the Chamber of Commerce and local livestock traders acting as representatives of the Saudi businessman, Suleiman Al-Jabiri”.  

Next day, the house heard testimonies from the chair and secretary of the chamber of commerce, Mr Abdirahman Farah Sugal and Mr Abdillahi Diriye Jama. Both, emphatically, declared [swore] that they were not party to the agreement or partners with anyone or with Al-Jabiri.  

Livestock businessmen, Mr Adan Ahmed Diriye and Mr Ali Ibrahim Isse, acting as agents or country representatives of Al-Jabiri were called next to testify before the house.  

When asked by MP’s whether they were the signatory party responsible for the commercial livestock agreement entered with Al-Jabiri? The business agents of Al-Jabiri replied “no” and said that “the government was the signatory party who had made this deal with Al-Jabiri”.  

The agents said that they were only signatories to being country representatives/agents for Al-Jabiri and signed only terms and conditions of their appointment as ‘agents/representatives’ with the Saudi businessman, Al-Jabiri.  

The last to testify and appear before the house hearing were leaders of the livestock trader’s coalition [against the Al-Jabiri deal] who were embroiled with the government to the legality of the export agreement.  

The anti- Al-Jabiri coalition leaders, Mr Muhamad Abdirahman and Mr Abdillahi Ismail, argued that “the government, in particular, the minister of Livestock, Chamber of Commerce officials and the president were deeply involved with Al-Jabiri, in a conspiracy, to the detriment of the local livestock trade and its exporters.  

The government has given Al-Jabiri a monopoly to the Saudi market. Only traders acting as Al-Jabiri agents can export livestock to Saudi Arabia and no one else. Worse still, the government has determined a fixed price of $38 per goat/sheep sold to agents shipping livestock on behalf of Al-Jabiri to Saudi Arabia. We have export deals with Saudi livestock importers who have agreed to buy our livestock at a price of $60 - $70 per goat/sheep.  

Yet, we are forced by the government to sell our livestock to only one Saudi livestock company ‘Al-Jabiri’ at a price of $38 per animal. Half of the price we’ve been offered by other Saudi competitors when compared to Al-Jabiri”, said, leaders of the coalition of livestock traders against the ‘Al-Jabiri’ government sponsored deal.  

Coalition leaders vowed to the house, ‘to ship their livestock to Saudi Arabia, whether the government liked it, or not’.  

Up to date, the lower house of parliament has not produced its verdict on it’s weeklong (3/7 Aug’ 2008) hearing, in which government ministers, top officials and leading livestock traders testified before the house on the causes behind the current crises of the country’s livestock industry.