Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi Hashi
believes he is a fortunate man.
“I have had certain opportunities in life that many of my peers did not
get,” he said.
Those opportunities included
education in the United States immediately after his high school graduation, employment
at prestigious U.S. and international firms, and the rare prize of attaining a
doctorate in economics.
“By the time I came back to Somalia
in 2012, I realized I had not worked in Somalia,” he said. Little did he know
that, four years later, he would become a federal minister for fisheries and
marine resources—a job that would bring challenges and letdowns he had not
expected.
Hashi comes from a family steeped
in politics: his father, Mohamed Abdi Hashi, was one of the principal founders
of Puntland and had served as vice president and president of the regional
government. Hashi was born in Sheikh in northern Somalia in 1955. As a child,
he attended Quranic school and elementary school in Lasa Anod. Afterward, the
family moved to Mogadishu, where he finished his intermediate schooling at
Media Centrale and his high school at Benadir Secondary School.
In 1977, Hashi arrived in New York
and enrolled at Pace University. In spite of a tuition waiver, he had to work hard
in order to pay for his living expenses.
In the 1980s, he began working at
various financial heavyweight corporations such as Price Coopers Waterhouse and
Citibank at their headquarters in New York, as well as the famed investment
banking firm of Solomon Brothers.
In 1989, Hashi moved to Washington,
D.C where he began a 15-year career with the World Bank. As a Certified Public
Accountant (CPA) with master’s degrees in economics and finance, he strived to
improve his lot and go further in expanding his knowledge. Hashi went to school
and earned a doctorate in economics from George Mason University with a specialization
in monetary and international economics. In 2013, he published a book, Islamic
Banking: Study in Shaky Times, which explains Islamic finance and compares
the stability of conventional banks with those of Islamic banks.
In 2012, Hashi’s return to
Mogadishu was full of energy and verve. He wanted to make a change in his
native country and decided to run for the presidency.
“I knew my victory in the elections
was far-fetched,” he said, laughing, “but developing my campaign platform and
presenting a cohesive political and economic program for Somalia was
worthwhile
In early 2017, Somalia elected a
new president in Mohamed Farmajo, and Hashi was appointed as the Minister of
Fisheries and Marine Resources. He had another responsibility in the Secretariat
of the Economic Committee in the Council of Ministers, a body which oversees
and coordinates the work of 12 ministries.
Hashi knew he had a herculean task
before him. He was put in charge of a ministry in a country that experienced two decades of civil war,
anarchy, piracy, an endemic culture of apathy for fishing, and the absence of
fishing cooperatives. Moreover, Somalia’s coastline, which is estimated to be about
3,300 km long with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) over a million square miles,
has always faced one deleterious problem: Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated
(IUU) fishing. “The country loses between $300 to $600 million every year due
to IUU fishing,” Hashi said. China, Iran, Yemen, Egypt, France, the
Netherlands, and Spain are among the biggest offenders. Among many other
problems, Hashi saw an urgent need for robust naval capabilities such as a
coast guard, at least 10 navy patrol vessels, skilled manpower, and the political
will to make the best and right decisions.
Additionally, there was the thorny
issue between the federal government and the federal member states. The Provincial
Constitution is explicit in resource-sharing. Up to 12 nautical miles belongs
to the regions; 12 to 24 nautical miles are within a grey zone; and 24 to 200
nautical miles are federal responsibility. Since the administration of
President Hassan S. Mohamoud, negotiations have bogged down between the federal
government and the federal member states in fisheries licenses revenue-sharing
because Puntland wanted a share almost similar to that of the federal
government. In February 2018, Hashi proposed an interim fisheries agreement in which
all the monies from the issuance of federal licenses would be deposited in the
Central Bank and then it would be divided between the federal government and
the regional governments based on consensus. Incidentally, this interim
fisheries agreement is in effect now and is the basis for the 30 fishing
licenses that have been issued to Chinese companies since Hashi’s departure.
“Illegal fishing in our shores is the most challenging problem we have,”
Hashi said.
Many foreign ships roam Somalia’s
coast exploiting fish and marine resources without being stopped and
questioned. Among these are the super trawlers or factory trawlers, which are
banned in many parts of the world because they threaten the natural habitat of
fish and cause overfishing. These ships have the capacity to stay at sea for
weeks, catch fish, process them, freeze them, and store them. They may also be
involved in illegal activities such as drug smuggling, human trafficking, and
toxic waste dumping. “On the Somali coastline, some of these trawlers have used
Vietnamese and Cambodian crews as forced labor,” Hashi explained.
Bottom trawling is a method used by
these factory trawlers to scoop fish from the seabed thereby damaging the marine
ecosystem and depleting fishery. “Some of these trawlers have managed to
extirpate mangroves in our coast and ship them back to their countries like
China does,” Hashi said. Legally, the trawlers are not allowed along Somalia’s
coastline, but Puntland, a regional government, allows them to fish in its
region even though Puntland’s fishery laws prohibit them.
Specifically, there have been seven
trawler ships registered in Thailand that have been violating Puntland’s coast.
Oddly, these ships carry fishing licenses issued by Puntland and hence operate
between 24 and 200 nautical miles in Somalia’s exclusive economic zone in clear
violation of federal laws. At some point, these ships conveniently secured
Djiboutian flags, thanks to lobbying by Abdiweli Gaas , the former head of the Puntland
regional government to fish in Puntland. When Djibouti discovered about the
Interpol pursuing these ships, it withdrew its flag. Ironically, the ships
found flags from an unexpected place: Mogadishu. The federal Ministry of Ports
and Marine Transport allowed them to use Somali flags. When Hashi found out, he
documented the incident and reported the matter to Ahmed Ali Dahir, then the
country’s Attorney General. Dahir met with President Farmajo at Villa Somalia,
the seat of the presidency, and the flags were withdrawn from the foreign
ships.
On May 3, 2017, Hashi said that
Thailand had contacted the Somali federal government to inquire about a ship in
its territory with a fishing license issued by Puntland. The Ministry of Fisheries
and Marine Resources responded that any fishing licenses not issued by the
federal government of Somalia are null and void. Thailand’s response was swift
and decisive: it seized the ship. That is when Abdiweli Gaas complained to
President Farmajo that Hashi and his ministry were hurting the interests of
Puntland businessmen who had a stake in the seized Thai ship.
It is important to note that there
are 6,000 ships registered in Thailand, which bring in an annual fishing revenue
of $300 billion to that country. Most of the fish are exported to the European
Union (EU), however, there have been serious allegations of these Thai-owned
ships being involved in illegal fishing, human trafficking, and other shady
activities. According to Hashi, The EU issued a yellow card to Thailand to curb
illegal activities by these ships or face serious commercial consequences.
Thailand began monitoring these ships and taking legal actions against them. “In
fact, Thailand wanted to help Somalia to fight illegal fishing and was telling
the EU that it was aiding us,” Hashi said.
Hashi also said he was pleased with
Thailand’s bold actions in seizing the ship, which had a merchandise of fish
illegally caught along Somalia’s coastline. “We were sending a message to the
world that Somalia will not tolerate the exploitation of its coast,” he said.
The president of Puntland and his associates were adding pressure to the
Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and Villa Somalia to cease its
activity of waging a campaign against the Thai-owned ships. President Farmajo
was walking a tight rope: he needed the support of the regional governments, particularly
Puntland, which had tense relations with the federal government.
The president, the prime minister,
and the federal government leaders attempted to circumvent Hashi by directly
contacting Thailand. For instance, Yusuf Garaad, then Somalia’s Foreign Minister,
wrote a letter to the Thai government asking for the release of the seized
ship. According to Hashi, the Thai government became concerned about the
foreign ministry’s correspondence, as the matter of the seized ship was not its
purview.
Hashi said he had briefed Prime Minister Hassan Kheire about the seized
ship, and the premier was initially supportive of Hashi’s stand. “When I told Khaire
about my actions in asking Thailand to hold the ship, he became animated and
started using his flowery language that it was the end of illegal fishing in
Somalia,” Hashi said. He characterized the prime minister as “negatively
genius.” When the premier saw the goodwill Hashi had developed with Thailand,
he wanted the minister to ease on the seized ship and let it go, but Hashi
refused. In essence, Farmajo was capitulating to Gaas’ pressure and demands. Gaas
was howling and the noise from Villa Somalia deafening. Amid the cacophony,
Hashi found himself in the center of the storm. Ironically, the firing of Hashi
came at an opportune time when the leaders of the federal government and
regional leaders had a gathering in Garowe, the capital of Puntland.
Hashi was quietly relieved of his
position as the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources. Mahad Guled, Deputy
Prime Minister of Somalia, gave a statement praising Hashi for his dedication,
hard work, and superb knowledge. No word was ever issued on the real reason
behind Hashi’s job termination. In the end, President Farmajo had caved in to
appease those figures in Somalia who had no qualms about seeing their country
exploited. Obviously, political expediency prevailed on the part of Farmajo. As
Hashi said, “The need for political will is paramount in fighting illegal fishing
in our coastline.” The work he said he was trying to do at the Ministry of
Fisheries and Marine Resources—which are the core principle of tapping into the
country’s natural wealth, investing in its coast, generating revenue to
alleviate poverty, and aiming at self-sufficiency—were undermined by our leaders. “Unfortunately,
personal gain by some leaders became more important than the national
interest,” Hashi said.
