Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — Ismail Ahmed, the founder of WorldRemit, a remittance company, claimed that “Premier Bank in Somalia has stated that it originated and invested in the eVisa system introduced by the Federal Government of Somalia”. The eVisa requires dual Somali citizens to obtain an electronic visa when travelling to Somalia.
Ahmed took issue with a statement, reportedly issued in Hargeisa, which described his reaction as a business rivalry between himself and Premier Bank. “In his Somali statement shared on social media, Ismail Ahmed alleges that a company has been tasked with collecting money from the eVisa scheme. If he means that a company processes the payments, his allegation about collecting money is baseless. So too is his claim that a Premier Bank official told him the bank was behind the eVisa introduced by the Federal Government of Somalia.Processing legal payments is not a crime ,” a business lawyer in Mogadishu told Puntland Post.
On his X (formerly Twitter) account, Ismail Ahmed described the eVisa as a “Travel War on Somaliland” and argued that the Federal Government of Somalia’s control over the airspace is illegal. In a recent letter, he stated that “Somaliland will not bankroll attempts to violate its sovereignty.”
By attributing sovereignty to the secessionist administration of Somaliland in northern Somalia, Ismail Ahmed exposes the weakness of his argument. “Only the Federal Government of Somalia is vested with the authority to represent and protect the sovereignty of Somalia and its airspace,” the business lawyer added.
Ismail Ahmed has not explicitly referred to the Somaliland administration as a “republic”, but his repeated (mis)use of the term “sovereignty” in relation to the Somaliland Administration in his recent statements highlights the intense competition between Premier Bank and WorldRemit in Somalia.
© Puntland Post, 2025