Ten Hargeisa Electricity Companies Announce 2013 Merger

On 18 December 2013, Somaliland Sun reported that ten city-based electricity utility companies in Hargeisa had announced a merger, describing it as the first such merger in the nation's history. The report, by Amal Abdala, said the companies in the merger are AFGAL, SELP, KAAFI, NFS, SEECO, CADCEED, SANYARE, ELMI, HASSPOWER and Hargeisa power electric. Their new name, according to the report, is ALMIS electric company (ALEL).

The report does not establish whether the merger was registered or legally recognized. No merger document, registration record or regulator confirmation is cited. No registration or licensing record for the name ALMIS electric company (ALEL) is cited either. The report also does not state that ALMIS became operational or began supplying power.

Somaliland Sun reported that the companies usually supplied power to the east, central, north and western sides of Hargeisa. The report does not provide service-area data or capacity figures for the merged companies, and it does not give registration numbers, ownership details or shareholding. The article body does not state the date of the merger meeting; the page carries a 2013-12-18 dateline.

According to Somaliland Sun, the meeting was held at Hotel Guled. Several government ministers and UCID presidential aspirant Jamal Ali Hussein, chairman of the Hargeisa Business Council, were present at the venue, the report said. The source does not name the ministers individually or provide an attendance list, and it does not state that any of those present endorsed or supported the merger.

Mohammed Abdirahman, chairman of the new electricity company Almis, said the companies decided to unite after what he described as marathons of meetings among themselves, as reported by Somaliland Sun on 2013-12-18. The report does not give the number or dates of those meetings and cites no appointment record for Mohammed Abdirahman as chairman.

The stated purpose of the merger, according to the report, was improving the quality of services to the residents of the city. That rationale is a claimed purpose, not a documented outcome. The report does not state that the merger achieved 24-hour power or improved service quality.

Sheikh Adan Siro, described in the report as one of the proprietors of the companies, said that when he first started his ice-cream parlour he had to contend with power black-outs that used to leave his ice-cream diluted, which is when "we realized that we need 24-7 power." The report does not state which specific company or companies Sheikh Adan Siro owned, and it provides no outage data or dates for his claim.

What the report does not establish is what has happened since. It contains no evidence that the merger was registered, that ALMIS operated, that the ten companies stopped supplying power independently, or that service quality or tariffs changed. No follow-up regulatory record or corporate filing appears in the report. The 2013-12-18 article is an account of an announced merger meeting, not a record of a completed transaction or of subsequent performance.