Kenya criticised for closure of money transfer firms following Garissa attack

NGOs have raised concerns about the disruption of a vital humanitarian lifeline after Kenya ordered the closure of 13 remittance companies specialising in money transfers to Somalia.

The closures, a response to allegations that the firms have links with al-Shabaab, follow the Islamist group’s deadliest attack on Kenyan soil, the Garissa University shootings that left 148 people dead on 2 April. The shutdowns will make it harder for ordinary Somalis to pay for food, water, healthcare and education, according to a statement issued by 15 NGOs.


Somalis depend on their friends and relatives abroad to send home about $1.3bn (£890m) annually. This amounts to more than all development and humanitarian aid to the country combined, according to Keeping the Lifeline Open, a report by Oxfam, Adeso and the Inter-American Dialogue.

Rahma Mohamed, 39, lives in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, a self-declared country in northern Somalia. She depends on money transfers from her ex-husband, who lives in Europe, to support herself and her eight children.

“I don’t work and I do not have any other source of income, so I can’t imagine any other way I would support my family if the remittance companies are closed,” she said.

The concerns raised by Mohamed were reflected in the NGOs’ statement. “Somali families are losing their only formal, transparent and regulated channel through which to send and receive money,” they said.

“Many of the companies whose licences have been suspended are delivering legitimate, formal remittances to the country and should be allowed to continue their services.”

The Kenyan government is under pressure to respond to last week’s attack, which left students hiding in cupboards for days. On Sunday and Monday it launched air strikes against al-Shabaab camps near the border with Somalia.

On Tuesday, the government issued a blacklist of 85 individuals, groups and companies that will have their licences revoked, preventing them from conducting business in Kenya. Included in the list were al-Qaida, Islamic State and the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram.

Banks in the US and the UK have also closed accounts used by Somali remittance firms for international money transfers, likewise fearing that funds could end up in the hands of al-Shabaab and other militant groups.

But the aid agencies warned that closing money transfer firms would hinder humanitarian and development operations, making them more difficult to pay for.

Experts have long raised concerns that such closures will drive money transfers further underground, making them even more difficult to monitor. As Laura Hammond, senior lecturer in development studies at Soas, University of London, has observed: “People will send money the way they did before Somali money transfer companies were formed: in cash, stashed in bags and pockets, or in other ways that will be impossible to track.”

Rights groups and NGOs said the Kenyan government was punishing civil society groups rather than stifling funding sources for militants.

“This list raises more questions than answers,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Individuals and entities on the list, including licensed agencies providing essential funds, have a right to transparency and due process. Including respected human rights groups like Muslims for Human Rights and Haki Africa, who have done excellent work documenting abuses by security forces, also raises the suspicion that this may be backlash for their critical work.”

The statement was issued by Adeso, CARE, CEFA, Concern Worldwide, COOPI Cooperazione Internazionale, the Danish Refugee Council, KAALO Aid and Development, Mercy Corps, Mercy-USA for Aid and Development, Norwegian Church Aid, Oxfam, Polish Humanitarian Action, Solutions for Humanity Somalia, VSF Suisse, and World Vision Somalia.

The statement said: “While recognising the many challenges faced by the government of Kenya in trying to stem terrorism, a disruption to flows of genuine remittances to Somalia should be avoided. If sustained, these closures could prove costly, cause inefficiencies, and at worse force some aid agencies to close their operations.”