Wednesday January 26, 2022
Somalia’s Finance Minister Abdirahman Duale Beileh has announced that he is giving up his parliamentary seat to concentrate on other matters.
Dr Beileh, one of country’s top economists and also famous for poetry, said he will not defend his Lower House Parliamentary seat which came out for a vote on Tuesday. He had been occupying the House of the People (HOP) seat number 201 for Awdal region in the 10th parliament, and was widely anticipated to seek re-election.
In a contest held on Tuesday in Mogadishu, Dr Beileh did not vie for the position, while two other members of his clan from Awdal region in Somaliland contested for the post.
Just before the contest at General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu, Minister Beileh held a press conference in his office in the city saying that he deliberately refrained from seeking re-election to avoid conflict of interest.
“I have felt that the finance ministerial position and the legislative post intersect. Thus, I have preferred to remain in being a guardian of the country’s resources,” Beileh told the media.
“I am determined to keep the finance portfolio clean,” he said, adding that he lost many friends for rendering state services and questioning the favouring of people in the course of contracting and granting concessions.