FACT CHECK MADOBE: Not true Jubbaland does not receive funding from FGS

Upon arrival from UAE via Ethiopia Monday, Jubbaland leader Ahmed Madobe scolded the Federal Government over what he termed as double standards in the Gulf dispute noting despite declaring neutrality, the Government was in bed with Qatar.

Madobe also declared his administration had not received any financial support from the Federal Government since it came into being in 2013.

“Jubbaland has not received any money from the Federal Government since it was formed,” Madobe said.

Government and UN records indicate the Federal Government does not collect revenues accrued from Kismayu port and the UN has variously noted the Federal Government has no direct control over the port just as it doesn’t in other regional states safe for Mogadishu. It effect therefore, revenues from these ports are consumed at state level.

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Unless proven otherwise, it would be misleading to say the Federal Government does not provide financial assistance to state governments. In the 2015 national budget which appears to be the first time the Finance Minister factored in Jubbaland for that year’s budget vote, the Federal Government set $1,780,000 for Jubbaland.

In the subsequent year (2016) the minister allocated $2.5 million for Jubbaland while in the 2017 budget, the amount shot up to $2.69 million. In the 2018 national budget, the government reduced Jubbaland vote by slightly more than half giving the southerly coastal state $1.2 million.

In comparison with other Federal Member States in the 2018 budget, Jubbaland got the second highest allocation coming second to Puntland which was allocated $2.5 million. A similar pattern can be seen in the previous fiscal periods.

It is not clear how much the port of Kismayu generates annually and so is the case in all other ports safe for Mogadishu whose records occasionally come to the public domain.