DOES MOGADISHU NEED A MAYOR?

Especially given the heightened insecurity in the city and lack of order, is it possible to achieve much as a mayor? Food for thought...

But some are willing to take on the challenge despite the odds and the best anyone can do is support them. Mohamed Ahmed Noor is currently the Mayor of Mogadishu, a true African hero of the highest order and an inspiration to many including Africa Project 53.

Mohamed Ahmed Noor was under no illusions when he agreed to take on the job of mayor of Mogadishu, capital of Somalia. He was living in the relative safety of London when the offer was recently made. He sat his family down and told them he may not be coming back. "I explained the dangers of the job, that I may be killed and that one day they may hear on the news that the mayor of Mogadishu has been assassinated, or killed in an explosion."

...

Mayor Noor feels that Mogadishu gets a bad press. "I think there is a misunderstanding about Mogadishu. It is not more dangerous than Baghdad, or Kabul. "If you compare death rates, or daily accidents in the capitals, on a bad day in Mogadishu you can have 10-20 deaths, but in Baghdad we hear of 50 or 100 casualties in a day. In Kabul it can be more than that."
Mr Noor does recognise the limitations the security situation presents, however. "I cannot work effectively, I cannot go wherever I want, I don't have resources to provide services." But since taking office four months ago, he says he has tried to do whatever he can to improve the lives of Mogadishu's people. "I am lighting the streets of Mogadishu so people can start to lead a normal life. "I am cleaning the streets, the markets. All that is an improvement," he said. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11847336

So far, all he has received is a $50,000 budget for a capital where garbage has not been collected in 20 years, and where electricity is nonexistent unless one owns a generator or buys it from someone who does. "The government has not kept its promise," he said. But that hasn't stopped him. He persuaded a generator operator to light up a few streets at night by threatening to bring in two large generators and drive him out of business. He hired 10 trucks to pick up garbage; that made a small dent in one neighborhood. He replaced officials who had been chosen because of clan ties and installed people with experience. In some neighborhoods, he created community-policing units to prevent spies from al Shabab, the al Qaeda-linked militia seeking to take control over the country, from infiltrating government areas. "Security has improved," he declared, radiating with optimism.

For more information on Mohamed Ahmed Noor Mayor of Mogadishu Somalia background and his life journey that has prepared and led him to this enormous task visit here http://www.washingtonpost.com