GAROWE, January 9, 2018 – At the MAP’s triennial General Assembly held in Garowe from December 29 to 30, 2017, over 90 MAP delegates drawn from the 9 Puntland regions comprising of Journalists and Media outlets in Puntland achieved a major milestone.

The MAP third General Assembly expenses were supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and MAP self institutional fund.

Day 1 & 2 of the GA conference saw the revision and approval of the proposal to amend the MAP bylaw; Approval of Human resource, Financial policy & internal control procedures; Approval Ethical and conflict of interest policies, Approval of the External Audit report FY2016/17; and Day 3 was the main event of election, the contested positions whereof Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary General, Meanwhile the Chair-elect nominated Five additional members for the MAP board of directors.

The position of Chair attracted the highest number of candidates, three journalists contested for the Chair namely; Mohamed Mohamud ”Welkom” (former MAP Vice Chair), Mohamed Dahir Warsame ”Aynsane” and Abaadir Abdulkadir Elmi.

The first-round results came as following; Welkom-22 votes, Aynsane-41 votes, and Abaadir-30 votes. In the run-off, Aynsane defeated Abaadir by 51-votes against 41-votes to be declared the MAP chair.

The position of Vice-chair had two contestants, Yusuf Mohamed Mohamud and Mukhtar Abdi Jama. Yusuf claimed the Vice-chair position after garnering 50-votes against the 38-votes for the opponent Mukhtar.

MAP’s Executive Director Nasra Abdirisaq Mohamed was elected unopposed as the MAP’s Secretary general in a move that was unanimously endorsed by the assembled 90 delegates.

The treasurer position was a contest between Asiya Abshir Adan and Nacima Muse delef. Asiya garnered 52 votes to 38 claiming the treasurer position.

The chair-elect Mr. Mohamed Dahir Warsame ‘’Aynsane’’ who graduated 2008 with a bachelor of mass communication from the International University of Africa in Sudan, he is also an alumnus of the Radio Nederland Training Centre, he studied the RNTC’s Investigative Journalism course held in Nederland in 2015.

In his victory speech, Mr. Mohamed thanked both the delegates who voted for him and those who didn’t. He pledged to keep his campaign promises and be a leader for all.

Mr. Mohamed underlined that his office will seek close working relationship with all Puntland and Somali Journalists, Civil Society groups and authorities in the country in the endeavor to develop the capacity of our journalists and promote safety of Journalists.

He further guaranteed that they would be guided by the standards of superlative commitment and trustworthiness in the performance of their obligations.

The chair later appointed the 5 members of the board who were brought in front of the GA delegated for approval, the appointees were unanimously approved by the delegates. Below are the appointed board members and the departments they will lead;

The peaceful, free and fair elections were warmly welcomed by the members of the civil society, State authorities, and activists who were invited as external observers for the MAP board of director’s elections.

PUNNSA chairman, PDRC officials and Deputy Minister of Information sent congratulation to the new MAP Board of Directors.

‘’I applaud the previous MAP board members for the outstanding achievements they have reached including the organising of this colorful event, I wish the newly MAP board of director’s success in their future endeavors. PUNSAA as always will be available to collaborate with MAP, thank you’’ Said the Puntland Non-State Actors Association (PUNSAA) chair Faisal Ahmed Warsame

‘’We have observed a free and fair practice during the process of today’s election, on behalf of the Puntland government we endorse the results and outcomes of the MAP Board of director’s elections, He added I wish to thank the former MAP board and staff for the work they have done over the years, I congratulate the newly elected team and wish them success in their future tasks, said the Puntland Minister for information, culture and Heritage Abdirizak sheikh.

Inauguration day held in PUNSAA office on January 7, 2018

The official inauguration was held at the Puntland Non-State actor’s association (PUNSAA) office in Garowe, at the presence of officials from PUNSAA, PDRC, Puntland Ministry of information, Members of former MAP board and Members of the newly elected board.

Faisal Khalif, the former chair of MAP gave an overview of MAP’s ongoing projects including their separate bank account status, and the association’s assets inform of equipment’s and office materials including the donated items such as laptops, desktops and projectors.

The newly elected board under the chairmanship of Mohamed Dahir Warsame ‘’Aynsane’’ officially took over the management of the MAP bank accounts and the MAP office.

Laptops and other MAP owned materials held by the former MAP board members was agreed to be handed over to the new board latest on 31^st January 2018.

Currently, ongoing projects of MAP are;

Promoting Media Sustainability of Puntland – Supported the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Pending activities handed over to the new MAP board are the completion of the Puntland Media council activities.

The formation of a media council is provided for in Article 21, Clause 3 of the recently revised Puntland media law. The council will act as a self-regulatory body for the media sector and will review complaints from within and about the media sector, and will provide recommendations for redress for alleged ethics violations. Nominations to the council will come from the MAP, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education, Puntland Independent Bar Association, Puntland Non-State Actors Association, and the office of the Puntland Independent Human Rights Defender.

Project final Reporting Deadline: March 31, 2018

2. Promoting Journalist Safety, Freedom of Expression and institutional development project in Puntland – Supported by Free Press Unlimited.

Pending activities handed over to the new MAP board is the 2day Puntland Media and Security Stakeholders conference;

The 2-day conference will present research findings from the previous MAP led countrywide Journalist safety study, focusing on the Puntland regions. it is hoped that the state-level conference will produce a clear understanding of the situation, and a plan of action for further work towards an integrated effort for journalism safety and impunity of perpetrators of crimes against journalists in Puntland. Through this activity, a Puntland Journalist Security Committee will be established.

Project Final Reporting Deadline: February 15, 2018

3. Improving media freedom and safety and media content for public interest in Somalia

Completion and distribution of the Somali Safety and Protection Manual. (Currently, the manual has been translated from English to Somali and distributed to the 9-member editorial committee to review).
Finalization of the Somali Safety Manual;
Final Approval of the Safety manual from IMS;
Organizing and executing the validation of the Somali Safety manual;
Distribution of Somali Safety Manual to Somali Media outlets and Journalists

Project Final Reporting Deadline: February 10, 2018

All pending financial reporting of the above projects with effect to December 31^st, 2017 will be verified and the responsibility of the outgoing MAP board chairman and will be reported to the new board chair. The new board takes over projects responsibility from January 7^th, 2018.

The MAP projects team remain effective and will continue their duties as normal and will be relied on supporting the new board while catching up with the ongoing activities.

The Media Association of Puntland (MAP) would like to thank the outgoing board for their commitment and performances during the past years and wishes them a fortune in their future endeavors.

The MAP project team led by Mr. Ibrahim Abdirahman who was the backbone of the achievements reached by MAP over the past years remains committed to continuing his pivotal role within the association, we wish to thank him for his continued service.

Lastly but not least, the MAP new board and staff would like to thank our partners especially the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), The International Media Support (IMS) and the Free Press Unlimited (FPU) for their continued support to MAP in promoting the Puntland Media Development, Journalist Safety and initiatives aimed at promoting freedom of expression in Puntland and Somalia at large.