How failure to compensate family of dead Somali man could haunt UK, 91 years later

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MOGADISHU, Somalia - The death of a Somali national in 1931 could return to haunt the British government after documents emerged on how his family was subjected to hide and seek by colonial administrators in the country, even after the company contractors by the government expressed remorse.

Musa Ali alias Musa bin Ali Ghailu [Muuse Cali Geelle] was killed after a fatal fall in 1931 while [employed by Bahrain Government the colonial administration contracted company in service of the British Empire] leading to complaints by his relatives.

Shortly after the death, correspondences unearthed by historian Liban Farah indicate that relatives of Musa Ali submitted a petition to the Political Agent Bahrain [British colonial office] seeking compensation for the widow. The matter came to be traced in the British archives in London.

However, the request to compensate his widow/dependents couldn’t be honoured until these claims were verified; the company was duly informed and they acknowledged. Muse fell and died instantly according to a document written to the office by Isa bin Farih.

A representative of the Sultan in Mukalla determined that Musa Ali had left a widow named Khatum Hasan and indicated that he was ready to facilitate compensation payments to the widow. The company also regretted the tragic death of the worker at that time according to records.

The Political Agent forwarded the details ascertained by the enquiry to the company, advising that compensation may be remitted to his Agency for forwarding to the widow. After failing to receive a response, he followed up a month later - by that time, six months had elapsed after the tragic death.

But instead of proposing a compensation amount to be paid to the widow, the company abruptly dismissed any responsibility. The Political Agent provided in response copies of past correspondence where the company indicated that a suitable compensation amount would be forthcoming.

Later, the company then acknowledged previous correspondence, in view of which, it declared itself agreeable to making a contribution. This is a case of conspiracy/collusion between agents of the British Empire to defraud a widowed woman living destitute of her rightful compensation, argues Farah.

The company in question here is Callender's Cable & Construction Company Limited which later merged with British Insulated Cables in 1945. The British Insulated Callender's Cables was eventually renamed BICC in 1975. BICC then changed its name to Balfour Beatty in 2000.

Balfour Beatty is FTSE 250 company on the London Stock Exchange with a revenue of around GBP 8.3 billion and over 24 thousand employees. This basically means that the company still exists and is liable for the death of one of the former workers whose family should be compensated.

"We implore Balfour Beatty to do the decent thing and make good their promised compensation to surviving Musa Ali’s heirs," argues Farah. "Before panicking, we understand that inflation-adjusted amount from 1931 could be enormous [especially if official historic bank rates over 91 year period are applied]."

The heirs were from a town called Qandala, then under Italian Somaliland which is about 78 km east of Bosaso, Somalia. Further reports indicate that he was from the Warsangeli tribe who live in Somaliland, a breakaway region of the federal republic of Somalia.

The British government has a programme of compensating past deeds of people who were directly responsible for atrocities in their former colonies. For instance in Kenya, several independence fighters including their kin were rewarded by a London court over the untold suffering they went through.

The British colonized Somaliland before granting them independence in June 1960 while Italians were in charge of Somalia which got independence in the same year, July. However, the two regions merged to form the republic of Somalia, a union which broke in 1991.

GAROWE ONLINE