Hiiraan Online

Key Somali community leaders from Birmingham and London attended a colourful ceremony at the Salama Somali Restaurant in Birmingham where Mr. Phil Bennion attracted a huge support from the Somali community who pledged they will vote for him praising him for his campaign for peace and democracy in Somalia since he first became European Parliament member just two and a half years ago.

Both the European Union parliamentary election and that of Birmingham city council are scheduled to take place on 22nd of May and Somali community leaders pledged that their votes will go to Liberal Democrats, praising Mr. Phil Bennion for his commitment to restoring a lasting peace and stability to Somalia.

Liberal democrat Somali candidate for Birmingham city council Dr. Cabdulqaadir Ruumi who first addressed at the luncheon ceremony outlined his party’s policy toward making opportunities for all children in the UK, development of public services and as well as fighting for a greater investment in local jobs.

For his part Mr. Phil Bennion first thanked the Somali community for organizing such honour luncheon for him to show their commitment and support to him.

“I do thank you for your appreciation and for this commemorative award I have only been member of European parliament for two and a half years, but very soon after I was elected to the parliament, the Somali community here in Birmingham requested a meeting with me to discuss a number of issues that the Somali community have in particular with relation to the piracy issues and illegal fishing off the Somali coast.

He said that another major issue raised during the meeting with Somali community was about the European Union aid budged for Somalia and how it is spent.

“The EU is the biggest aid donor to Somalia and the community here in Birmingham were very concerned that the aid was spent in the best possible way and they asked me questions about the use of the considerable amount of money that the EU spends in Somalia” Mr Phil Bennion noted during his address at Monday’s Luncheon in Birmingham.

He explained that the main concern about the spending of the aid was that it should be spent on those things that can help the Somali economy recover such as fishing industry, agriculture, capacity building workshops, creation of skills for young people to develop jobs to help the recovery of economy in Somalia.

“The people I met also told me that it was important that the EU aid must be spent on political development and build democracy in Somalia-- these are the important sectors that the Somali people want the EU money should be spent on, but they did not want the money to be spent on refugee camps. Even though it is necessary to maintain the refugee camps, but they want to make sure that there was an incentive for people to return home from the refugee camps back to Somalia” he noted.

“I made some speeches to the EU parliament and asked questions and received the answers and I hope that the money from the EU will be spent on the ground and on projects which will help Somalia to develop and to become a country that can stand on its own feet” Liberal Democrats EU parliamentary candidate Mr. Phil Bennion told the luncheon ceremony on Monday.

Key Somali community leaders who attended the luncheon include: Chairman of Somali sports community in the UK Dahir Ali Kulmie, The leader of Somali elders’ council in the UK Shariif Ahmadeey, the founder of Small heat Somali business centre in Birmingham Mr. Ereg Said, Abdi Salan Mumin of the Somali Week Association, Sandhol Ahmed Gelle, Mohamed Sharif (former Somali Airlines employee).

Shafi'i Mohyaddin Islow
[email protected]