Mayor Ji'ir: `Shame On You'

The mayor travels to and from his municipal town hall office inside a chauffeured new Toyota Prada 4x4 vehicle with tinted windows and fitted with the latest air-conditioning system. Mayor Ji'ir sees Togdheer junction, situated in the city center of Hargeysa everyday and virtually every time he travels in his vehicle. Togdheer junction is a main busy road junction. It is an area teaming with pedestrians, shoppers and small shops, restaurants, hotels and roadside traders. In the middle of this main road junction, a large pile of uncollected refuse litters the Togdheer junction; goats can be seen rummaging through the pile of rubbish, while a traffic police officer standing nearby directs the busy road traffic. In the history of Hargeysa, the city has never witnessed such a scene whereby a main road junction, in the middle of the city center, becomes a refuse dump.

Togdheer junction; cattle rummaging through the pile of rubbish

On the rare occasions when the local authority collects the trash, they often use vehicles that are not appropriate for the job. Most have dismembered the flap at the back of the tip-trucks which was supposed to stop the refuse from falling off the back, and as a result, the little trash that they collect falls off the back of these trucks, back on the roads.

Overloaded local authority refuse truck, without rear-load flap

On every road, lane and alleyway refuse litters the city. The spring rains have added to the diabolical state of the city, tons of rubbish and debris were churned out from overflowing open drainage ditches and natural water creeks filled with refuse. This has also created a situation whereby the city's hygiene and the health of its residents is at its lowest. Presently, there is a serious outbreak of cholera in Hargeysa and main Somaliland towns, particularly, in the poorer areas of the city, there has been mass contamination of drinking water and reports of 300 cholera cases hospitalized in the main Hargeysa general hospital. Unconfirmed deaths of numerous cases of cholera have also been reported. The situation in Hargeysa got so bad last week that the medical staff at the Hargeysa general hospital had to turn back so many cases suffering from cholera because newly admitted patients suffering from cholera occupied all the hospital beds in the wards.

In every neighborhood in Hargeysa, there are pools of rainwater left behind by recent rains; this is mainly because of inadequate water drainage systems. Entire roads are submerged under stagnant rainwater. Roads are potbellied with holes a meter wide, filled with rainwater. Yet the local government is oblivious to these serious hazards facing the health and well-being of its city's residents. Nevertheless, Hargeysa citizens continue to pay the various taxes and local government duties that contribute to the local government in order for it to provide the essentials services needed to manage the city's refuse collection operations, planning and repair of drainage, footpaths, roads, etc, etc.

Pool of stagnant rain water in Hargeysa neighbourhood

Roads are almost non-existent to vehicles, large or small. 80-90% of all paved roads are in need of serious road repairs. Some areas, particularly the city center need entire roads to be resurfaced. Virtually every vehicle in Hargeysa pays for the 6 months road license. The Inland Revenue of the ministry of Finance collects this money. In most mornings, at major road junctions there are traffic police carrying out stop and search operations on all vehicles for valid road license. Yet, again, this revenue is not being utilized for the city's road works.

Badly damaged and Pot filled roads in and around the town centre

The local authority, on top of revenues collected from its city residents and commercial outlets, also gets subsidized money from the central government, from the ministry of Public Works. Nobody knows how the local authority allocates this money in its annual budgets, nor is it apparent how the local authority prioritizes monies to be spent on the services it provides. The local authority does not have a statistics department or an assessment mechanism that monitors areas and services needing attention. The mayor of Hargeysa has a lot to answer for.

Bar Hargeysa road junction and the junction at Togdheer road littered with uncollected refuse

Source: Somaliland Times