NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, April 10, 2015

Aid agencies urge Kenya to allow Somali money transfer firms to resume operations, expressing concern that halting remittances will hurt struggling families and relief operations in Somalia.

On Wednesday, Kenya suspended the licenses of 13 Somali money transfer agencies in Nairobi in an effort to curb the financing of insurgents. This followed the recent massacre of 148 students at Kenya’s Garissa University College by al Shabaab militants.

“Somali families are losing their only formal, transparent and regulated channel through which to send and receive money,” said a statement issued by a group of relief agencies including Oxfam, CARE, Mercy Corps, Adeso and World Vision Somalia.

“Aid agencies working in Somalia also risk losing their only means of transferring money to sustain their daily humanitarian and development operations,” it said.