ABSENCE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN PUNTLAND

The establishment of professional associations, cooperative societies and firms would take off heavy burden on the government and would make lives and livelihoods much easier.

The creation of professional societies is as important as democratization process in Puntland. It even makes democratization process easier and more organized. It is time for Puntland to think strategically about state and societal development. We need men and women to think daily on those lines and advise the authorities.

But, all these efforts would be in vain, if political leaders are not trained to listen to new ideas and ready to be challenged for their own personal growth.

These organizations don’t need government funding. They would operate on their own budget through levies of fees from their membership, fees for services and grants from the public and government.

Postscript: As a support for the contents of this article and in response to its posting, here is a statement by a professional CPA and Licensed Auditor , Ali H. WARSAME, on the issue:

“On my personal experience, when I became Minister of Education [Puntland] on Feb. 2014, I was informed that one of the vital educational institutions, namely Garowe Teacher Training College, was suspended from funding previously provided by SIDA of Swedish Government through Diakonia, due to audit noncompliance. The institution was literally grounded due to that sanctioning. I read the report first and I immediately recognised that the noncompliance was not a “material misstatement” to warrant such a drastic measure from the funder. I requested audience in Nairobi to meet Diakonia team and management. I first stated my professional background as a certified accountant and licensed auditor. Then I confidently explained to the team what went wrong and although it’s a misstatement, it doesn’t qualify to the level of sanctioning because it’s not “material”. In addition to that, I promised to follow up the misstatement to be rectified, reorganise & restructure the Board of Directors to contain at least 1 qualified professional accountant, change the finance director and give the director of the institute one-year conditional contract to make sure that he understands the situation. I did leave the meeting with full restoration of the funding and appreciation”