In 2010 alone UN group UNDP claims it spent over $21 million on 'good governance' in Somalia. Somali man seeks accounting of who got this $21M slush fund other than 16+ UN groups and 15+ NGO's in Somalia

US politicians could help Africa by cutting off billions in funding to the UN and working directly with regions or countries. It's unlikely areas controlled by Islamic sharia law can be helped at all, but the UN isn't the answer.

March 4, 2012, "UN Corruption Index," Ali Osman, hiiraan.com

"Somalia is ranked top among most corrupt nations. It is not certain what criterion was used to place Somalia among the list of corrupt countries.  However, it is certain that this is the work of the United Nations agencies for their own convenience so to avoid accountability. The Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) does not receive money and is yet to collect taxes. The billions of aid money for Somalia are handled by the United Nations office for Somalia in Nairobi Kenya and their sister NGOs.  For example, the Somalia’s Defense and Education Ministries combined monthly running budget is less than $20,000. 

The money that the government collects from the airport and sea port is very small that some government ministers are paying from their pocket to cover their travel expenses. We know that the United Nations for the last five months has failed to pay the salary of the Somali Defense forces. Ironically, the food, clothes and transportation for the Somali Defense Forces is paid by the TFG on time from their meager Airport and Sea port fee collection.

The current Somali TFG led by Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and the one before led by Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo have shown dedication and willingness to appoint ministers not tainted by corruption. They have shown good governance, transparency and hard work. They have done all these positive developments without resources and constant danger and suicide bombings. We must ask then,: Why would the corruption index for Somalia apply to TFG which does not collect taxes and does not manage the money for Somalia? The corruption index for Somalia is being totally misplaced and wrongly labeled against the government of Somalia. If corruption index is any indication at all, it belongs to United Nations offices for Somalia.  Recently, a head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for Somalia tweeted “UNIDO-SOMALIA field staff uses Apple IPads for its Enterprise and Community Surveys.” The average income for Somali is less than $1 a week and you have UN agency spending iPad costing $800 to collect surveys, you must wonder the level of UN misappropriation for badly needed funds for security, education and healthcare. 

In the year 2010, the UNDP has claimed to have spent $21,208,236.05 on building good governance in Somalia. That is 21 Million US dollars!  I did not make this number up; it is from the UNDP Somalia Office’s website. It says: “The expenditure for the Governance programme in 2010 is 21,208,236.05 US$, with the following donors contributing: Denmark: 2,156,335US$; Norway: 356,891 US$; DFID: 248,414 US$; USAID: 1,350,000 US$” 

Money spent on good governance is not a bad thing. But, Somalia ranks the most corrupt nations in the world corruption index. You would think, someone would ask the UNDP, what has happened to that $21 million dollars for good governance? There will be no answer. Review and accountability, has never been United Nations forte. Sadly, the money will be increased even more and the results will be the same; Somalia will remain at the bottom of the most corrupt nations. 

The billions that the international community donated to Somalia were given to third-party organizations.  
The list of UN agencies that are beneficiaries of Somali reconstruction and relief funds is endless. It includes: 

UNDP SOMALIA OFFICE (United Nations Development Programe for Somalia); 
World Food Progamme; 
World Health Organization (WHO); 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF); 
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); 
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization(UNESCO); 
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); UN Habitat for Better Urban Future; Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); 
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); 
Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE);  
International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD);
International Monetary Fund (IMF); 
International Maritime Organization(IMO); 
United Nations Capital Development Fund, 
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and 
International Committee of the Red Cross. 

The list of NGO's in Somalia is long and includes 

Oxfam, 
CARE, 
World Vision, 
Save the Children SOS Children's Village, 
Catholic Relief Services, 
Doctors Without Borders, 
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC); 
Danish Refugee Council (DRC), 
Italy's Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI), 
Swedish African Welfare Alliance (SAWA); 
German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ); 
France’s Action Contre la Faim (ACF); 
MSF; COSV (Italy); 
Human Rights Watch, 
Amnesty International.

UN agencies and their sister NGO’s took hundreds of millions last year alone on behalf of Somalia. But, who are these international agencies accountable and who is ensuring the money reaches Somalia? The answer is disappointing no one.  No one is watching them and the TFG is labeled corrupt thanks to help of the UN and its NGO siblings. A trickle of that millions goes to the causes it has been intended to address. And, what you get is Somalia, a nation marred in chaos, corruption and war.

I am deeply troubled, donor nations and the news media, are putting the malaise of Somalia, on the shoulders of the TFG instead of putting squarely on the shoulders of the money man; the United Nations.  The Somali TFG has to beg third party international agencies for urgently needed funds to create administration and build critical infrastructures.  The funds never arrive, and if it does, it is too little and too late.

On one level, you have the TFG called “WEAK and CORRUPT”, maligned and blamed for all the problems while no money is provided to build institutions that will make the government strong. On the other hand, you have international agencies handed to billions of dollars for good governance, security, education, healthcare, road construction, child nutrition and they are not accountable! The work of the international agencies and the result for the last 20 years has been and continues to be alarmingly ineffective. What is more troubling is, donor nations and large foundations keep on pilling more money on these third-party agencies which happen to weaken the government and exasperate the weakness.

It is time to give the label of corruption index of Somalia to its rightful owner The United Nations agencies for Somalia and hundreds of NGO’s working on behalf of Somalia.  We also encourage the international community to reconsider their aid for Somalia and directly provide the funds to the TFG."

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Ed. note: Somalia has many problems. I don't know exactly to whom the money should go but this article makes the point, if it still needed to be made, that the UN is not the solution, has never been, and if anything is just a money laundering operation. And why not? UN personnel are completely unaccountable, can't be prosecuted anywhere for any crime, and are assured that US politicians will continue stealing money from US taxpayers to fund this massive criminal enterprise.
 






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