By Hassan “Bibi” Bilal, PhD
We have seen it all before – an underachieving working class mzungu leaves Canada to play out his fantasises in downtrodden Africa. On arrival, he picks up the native language, the so-called prerequisite for becoming one of us. He then distinctly adopts a clan accent to demonstrate that he’s part of a bigger community. Then like the cliché mzungu seeking to conquer Africa, he crowns it by marrying into Africa to attain the supposed seal of approval. If this isn’t enough, this false sense of entitlement morphs into a belief that he’s more African than the locals who invited him into their community in the first place.
To most Somalis the above scenario must sound very familiar. Yes, indeed, it’s the life of ‘Somalilander’, Matt Bryden the ‘modern-day’ macawiis-wearing Tarzan of Somalia. On a good day in Somalia, you can catch him in his macawiis swinging from Hargesia to Mogadishu, putting out political fires or sparking them as some have alleged.
Investigations and allegations
In a recent excellent report on corruption, the controversial ex-UN investigator known for his thirst for exposing Somalia’s bad and ugly has found himself the subject of an “investigation”. Bryden who now runs several consultancy companies is facing a host of allegations, which could potentially put him and his co-directors in an embarrassing situation. First is, political meddling and corruption or as one Nairobi-based Italian diplomat dubbed Bryden and his Sahan associates “political mercenaries.”
Then there are the more serious allegations, that Bryden and the Sahan group of companies have diverted donor funds like something out of the Somali Government’s corruption playbook. Other charges claim Sahan has been fiddling immigration documents for its expat staff in Kenya and dodging taxes. If by now you feel a sense of déjà vu about reading all this in one of Bryden’s old SEMG reports, you are not the only one. Only this time it appears the bad and ugly is none other than Matt Bryden and Sahan Africa et al.
But hold on, the allegations get more alarming and only if proven true, that Bryden and his counter-terrorism (CT) team were involved in the disappearance a Somali. Far fetching as that all sounds, ask anyone working CT and they will admit to having a bit of Jack Bauer (from “24”) in them. The assumption here is that Bryden and his team are no different. In any case, it does sound like Bryden and Sahan have a case to answer, if not but to retain their lucrative contracts from the donor community and at UNICEF.
Admittedly, this isn’t the place for upping the ante about allegations against Bryden and Sahan. For all we know, they could be spurious charges. This is after all, Somalia where most charges are peppered with agendas. But down the road, and as one already suspects, the SEMG are closing in on Sahan, we could possibly witness a colossal fall from grace, even by Somalia standards.
Where most can agree, is that since Bryden’s persona non grata (PNG) status was rescinded by Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (HSM) in 2012, the Abgaal and ‘Somalilander fabricator’ have become uncomfortably close. Bryden seems to never fail to praise HSM, both in private, with donors and publicly about Hassan Sheikh’s “efforts” to transform Somalia. And for Bryden’s PR troubles, rumours have it Sahan has been awarded several secret and lucrative contracts within Villa Somalia.
But one needs to be circumspect here. Can we really conclude that the above claim is enough to substantiate the charge that HSM has ploughed millions of UAE dollars into Sahan’s multiple Dahabshiil accounts in order to stay in power beyond 2016? The obvious questions are: Is HSM that corrupt and desperate and has Matt Bryden truly sold out beyond redemption? The truth is, anything is possible when it comes to Somali politics. Even the Machiavellian Bryden who’s been around for 30years can appreciate such political expediency.
Metamorphosis
To fault Bryden for taking a ‘payoff’, is probably naïve and a misunderstanding of who he has become. Bryden is a changed person – no longer the young MSF idealist or “Inspector Gotcha” as a UN sanctions expert. Like the corrupt and political spoilers named in his voluminous reports, Bryden has mutated into a ruthless businessman-cum-political actor à la Somali style.
Unimaginable as Bryden’s metamorphosis may sound, the likes of him and Sahan today couldn’t care less about the starving and poor in Somalia. After 30years of slogging it out, Bryden’s newfound motivation seems to be financial gain – pure and simple. And in true “Matt” fashion, if the Somali political class can plunder the country, so can he and Sahan, only with great aplomb.
On immigration fiddling/fraud, some have accused Sahan of being too heavily staffed with white expats. Some have even gone as far as accusing Bryden of setting up shop for the old boys network, and point to an exaggerated claim of ex-UN types swanning around with their Java lattes and iPhones. While there’s probably a whiff of expat cronyism going on at Sahan, it’s still hard to prove Sahan’s involvement in immigration fraud in Kenya. Rather than spin ‘unsubstantiated’ yarns, one would urge Bryden’s critics to focus more on Sahan’s other reported dubious activities.
According to reports from within Sahan Africa, the company from time-to-time operates under the official cover of an agricultural consultancy. Peculiar as this might sound, it’s bizarrely true. Some say on 8 June 2016, Bryden was looking to defraud the Barclays bank branch at Yaya Centre, Nairobi. The attempted fraud was based on opening up a current account in Euros. And as a result, Bryden cajoled his co-directors into falsely declaring to Barclays Bank that Sahan Africa was a company doing “consultation in agriculture.”
Whether setting up the bank account was part of a deliberate attempt to divert donor funds or to legitimately venture into growing bananas in Afgoye or Central Kenya, no one really knows. It does however speak to Bryden’s mastery of the art of masking and structuring financial operations. Not surprisingly, Bryden’s critics have been quick to mock his ‘newfound skills’ as being picked up from investigating unscrupulous NGOs while on the SEMG.
Where Bryden’s critics possibly have him and Sahan on the defensive is the violation of human rights allegation. For many years Bryden has been the analyst of choice for all matters on Somalia for Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Such allegations if proven true could severely damage their relationship. But reports from Sahan insiders confirm that Bryden and his CT team had unspecified problems with a Somali who was working with them, which led to him being “disappeared” on Bryden’s orders.
Once again, the obvious question is: does having “unspecified problems” with someone equate to Bryden “disappearing” someone? What’s now beyond doubt is that Bryden was sufficiently embarrassed, so much so that he publicly denied the allegations. However, a recent secret video of Bryden denying, “disappearing” the Somali has surfaced and is doing the rounds from a Sahan team meeting in September 2016. Shockingly, Bryden’s words during the team meeting seem to be at odds with his awkward and rattled demeanour.
Silent spoiler
Bryden and Sahan understandably have questions to answer, and one would hope Bryden sets the record straight soon. But even if we have already judged him or not – caution is advised given his chequered history in Somalia and the Horn of Africa.
His detractors claim he’s politely boastful and silently devious, citing that he had once claimed he was the only ‘Somalilander’ wily enough to penetrate the government in Mogadishu. A true and arrogant boast, but yes, the political class in Mogadishu probably do admire Bryden’s skulduggery or happy to use him. However, the flipside to Bryden’s over-inflated ego is, for every admirer of his there’s probably twice as many who despise him for being divisive and a silent spoiler.
As Somalia moves closer to an imperfect but historic presidential election in the coming weeks, many view Bryden and Sahan as obstacles – seen as agents of political instability similar to intellectual mercenaries for hire. While others see Bryden as the pint-sized white Machiavelli – an essential conduit for maintaining the corrupt political status quo in Mogadishu and beyond.
Attempts to pushback on Bryden’s corrupt leverage in Somalia have failed so far, and there’s real fear that the re-election of HSM could further strengthen the ‘Somalilander’s’ invisible hand in Somalia. The only conceivable solution, in light of the serious allegations against Bryden, is for Somalia’s political class to legally take him on as a matter of national consciousness. The other and possibly the most preferable would be if, and it’s a big if, there’s a new president in the coming weeks who would step up and bar the likes of Bryden and Sahan from Somalia – sending them back to Hargesia where it all begun.
By Dr Hassan “Bibi” Bilal, PhD
Email: [email protected]
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