Puntland Justice Minister Denounces Unfair Advantage Given to Certain Public Notaries

Garowe (PP News Desk) — The Justice Minister of Puntland State Awil Sheikh Hamid last week told MPs in Garowe that ministry guidelines for public notaries had been illegally overruled.

“In Garowe people go to specific public notaries who benefit from an unfair advantage to provide certain services such as the authentication of documents before the sale of a property” said the Minister. In June a departmental director of Justice Ministry accused the Housing and Public Works Ministry of infringing on the mandatory role of the Justice Ministry to issue licences and oversee public notaries in Puntland in line with Public Notaries Law.

Awil: “The Justice Ministry guidelines for public notaries have been illegally overruled.”

Accountability sessions at Puntland State Parliament that begun in June had brought to fore the freewheeling approach to ministerial duties and continuous violation of the Puntland Constitution article on fishing licences granted to foreign companies.

Puntland government departments has long been personal silos with the presidency exercising administrative and financial powers unaccountably.

“It seems that President Deni has decided to empower the Parliament to hold senior government officials accountable for their decisions. The Parliament will retrospectively investigate decisions by former administrations whose decisions might have violated the Constitution. Accountability sessions at Puntland Parliament could unite different groups who see the legislators’ assertiveness as a threat to their I’ll-gotten gains” said a former Puntland Parliament MP in Garowe.

© Puntland Post, 2022