Register with us to get your pay, PM tells soldiers

Prime Minister Hassan Khaire has denied claims some Somali National Army officers had not been paid for up to four months.

The PM said the soldiers complaining of lack of salaries had not registered themselves with the government and urged them to do so in order to access their salaries.

“We have recently heard of troops complaining that they have not been paid their salaries, but those are the troops who have not registered themselves,” the PM said.I call upon them to register themselves and they will get their salaries.

The PM’s remarks follow reports the April 12 battalion based in Dhanaane, Lower Shabelle vacated their bases over unpaid salaries in the last four months. Al-Shabaab militants shortly moved and took over the area after the SNA soldiers left.

The government introduced a biometric record for all the security forces in the country to enable transparency in the management of funds allocated to the military following accusations of corruption within the security sector.

The U.S suspended its food and fuel rations to Somali National Army in 2017 over what it termed as corruption and mismanagement of funds.