As with all other countries there are new laws and legislations discussed, passed and put into practice all the time. From a business perspective, it is important to stay updated on latest legislations that may have direct or indirect consequences. To this end, we’ve rounded up all the legislative changes during the past couple of months:

Somaliland Electrical Energy Act passed by Parliament

Date: 22nd April 2018

Somaliland’s Parliament, the House of Representatives approved the passage of the Somaliland Electrical Energy Act. The legislative bill is passed to spur investor interest. In addition, Somaliland has one of world’s highest electricity rates and the Electrical Energy Act is passed as a way of combating high consumer costs. It also affects Somaliland Business.

Source: Somaliland Parliament (House of Representatives) Press Office

Somaliland Procurement Act passed by Parliament

Date: 6th May 2018

Somaliland’s House of Representatives, its central legislative authority approved the passage of the Procurement Bill on the 6th of May 2018. This was the last remaining Public Financial Management (PFM) Bill to be passed by Somaliland’s Parliament. Now possessing the President’s signature, this will mean that all the PFM Bills will now become the law of the land.

The new Procurement Act will reform the public procurement systems of Somaliland to bring them to modern and international standards that embrace best practices whilst reducing the scope for corruption. The Bill seeks to organize public procurement management in Somaliland to ensure that it (public procurement) is not done in a discretionary manner but in a structured manner that ensures (goals) economy (value for money), efficiency, transparency, equal opportunity (to all candidates, particularly to Somaliland businesses), and professionalism.

The rules and procedures in the Bill will be applicable for use of all public funds (regardless of the source) and by all public entities that have been provided with budget and responsibility for public service delivery.

In short, the bill will ensure application of common rules/procedure and standards across all public entities, i.e. Central Government Ministries and their Departments and Agencies, Local Authorities, public institutions, public corporations and state enterprises. It will therefore be easy to compare performance of various public entities and to audits procurement transactions.

According to local sources, the Government of Somaliland will implement this Procurement Act as soon as possible and are looking forward to the expansion and successful continuation of PFM reforms in the Procurement Pillar of the program.

Source: PFM Reform Coordination Unit

Somaliland Government Bans Onion Imports to Aid Local Farmers

Somaliland’s government has issued a directive to ban onion imports. This drastic measure was put in place in order to aid local farmers. According to the Director General of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Osman Hussein Warsame; “the time has come to motivate local farmers so that they can increase their farm outputs.”

Dr. Osman Hussein Warsame said that “The government has banned importation of onions from neighbouring countries so that our farmers could reap the benefits of their labour. Furthermore, onions from Somaliland farms have just been harvested so we had to motivate our farmers who have for a long time been pushed to the wall by imports of farm produce from other countries.”

As described on MENAFN.com, the directive states that onions from Somaliland should be given priority and that no onions should be imported until these supplies are exhausted.

Source: MENAFN.com