Hussen enforced strict work discipline despite staff resentment

Evidence

Another area that required immediate attention was the misuse of the ministry’s resources, such as cement, which were routinely sold by some employees, particularly by those who kept government stores. Moreover, staff arrived and left their workstations as they pleased. In consultation with his senior staff, Hussen demanded that people arrive and stay at their stations for the full duration of the workday. Not surprisingly, once the new work ethic was strictly enforced, many of the employees saw the new minister as a monster bent on giving them an unnecessarily hard time. Word was out in town that Hussen had worked staff too hard at Interior and now was out to do the same at Public Works. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 716

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the graft and rule-bending problems facing Hussen’s state-building counterparts elsewhere in postcolonial Africa.