SOMALILAND: Dahabshiil’s Duale takes up the Somali remittance issue with US White House, Treasury Department

Abdirashid MS Duale, Group CEO of Dahabshiil companies meets with US officials on challenges that need to be removed to effect a smooth flow of  remittances benefiting Somalis.

Mr. Duale, to name but few, met with the Treasury Department, members of the House of Representatives, the World Bank and went all the way to the White House to highlight the importance of remittances to Somalis’ livelihood touching all facets of all of their personal, professional commercial, educational and health sectors.

Mr. Duale pointed out that the meetings he held with these officials bore fruit. “My impression was that everyone was sympathetic to the issue and that they were trying to find a solution to the current challenges. Clearly more work needs to be done to realise a lasting, meaningful”, he said. solution.

“My impression was that everyone was sympathetic to the issue and that they were trying to find a solution to the current challenges. Clearly more work needs to be done to realise a lasting, meaningful solution”, he said.

Mr. Duale revealed that Dahabshiil was sending remittances from the US as usual and that the only difficulty currently facing the industry there was the issue of the US banks and the recent Kenyan move to close almost all remittance companies operating in that country without a legal due process – or warning.

“The issue is being discussed with the Kenyan authorities, and we are hopeful that the rule of law will prevail at the end of the day. Dahabshiil is fully licensed in Kenya and there is no indication anywhere that our services have been knowingly used ‘illegally’ at any time – not there, not anywhere else,” Mr. Duale said.

Group CEO gave interviews to the VOA English, Kiswahili and Somali services in which he presented the case of Somali remittances and the ongoing efforts to ease the stranglehold some countries such as Kenya are trying to put on an indispensable Somali lifeline.

Following the attack by the Islamic militant group al-Shabab on the Garissa University in northern Kenya, where over 140 students were killed, the government suspended the license of Dahabshiil Money Transfer Company and another 12 companies. To tell us more about what impact this is having on their business, VOA’s Vincent Makori is joined by Abdirashid Duale, Chief Executive Officer of Dahabshiil.

To define the impact the closure will have on the business and on beneficiaries, Abdirashid Duale, Chief Executive Officer of Dahabshiil.,  joined VOA’s Vincent Makori.

Following the closure, Abdirashid told the VOA, Dahabshiil lawyers in Kenya immediately wrote to the Inspector General and shared all relevant documents with that office including, but limited to, how Dahabshiil operates globally in a network spanning over 126 countries 40 of which were African, and how Dahabshiil was fully compliant with all the financial laws regulating money matters in all of the host countries.