Farmaajo rushes to sell off oil blocks as opposition warns against move

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU:  ­­­President Mohamed Farmaajo this past week dispatched his Petroleum Minister Abdirashid Ahmed to Turkey in what sources and opposition groups have said is a covert operation to ink a deal with two oil companies to dispose of some oil blocks before he leaves office.

Accompanied by Somali Petroleum Authority (SPA) boss Ibrahim Hussein and the Ministry’s director general Ahmed Hashi, the minister has since according to credible reports held talks with Liberty Petroleum and Coastline Exploration.

The two companies, Goobjoog News has learnt have the upper hand against competitors thanks to a rapprochement with the outgoing Farmaajo administration. Coastline Exploration is understandably a reincarnation of the controversial Soma Oil and Gas which has had a chequered history in Somalia’s political and oil circles.

The move has attracted the ire of the opposition which has warned against deals by the outgoing administration noting a new government will be legally competent to handle the matter.

Terming the decision to engage oil companies at this late hour irresponsible, a council of 14 presidential candidates has warned against what it said is ‘looting of public resources’.

“This irresponsible move is counter to the norms of good governance and undermines years of hard work and the debt relief agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund,” the council said Saturday in a statement.

The council said Somalia was not ready to enter into oil licensing contracts until the enactment of relevant laws and policies guiding the process. This include, the opposition candidates said the Land Resources Tax Act, harmonisation of the Resource Sharing Agreement with the National Tax and Sales Tax which is also yet to be enacted.