GAROWE, Somalia Sep 27 (Garowe Online) - A well-organized event was held Saturday in the capital city of Somalia's northern State of Puntland to celebrate the winners of the Ramadan Competition, hosted by the Puntland-based independent radio station, Radio Garowe.
Audience
The event, held at the Garowe Municipal Government building, was attended by Puntland's State Minister for Good Governance, Mr. Mohamed Farah Gashan, the new mayor of Garowe, Mr. Abdinur Elmi Koor, and the head of Radio Garowe Group, Mr. Mohamed Abdirahman, alongside the station's employees.
The Ramadan Competition featured more than 2,000 questions asked on air in a special program during Islam's holy month of fasting, which ended last week. The questions were prepared by a community board and Garowe's six neighborhoods participated in the competition.
Radio Garowe staff
The first-place award was given to Hodan neighborhood and Waberi neighborhood came in second, also collecting a hefty award. The awards included cash prizes, Islamic literature and winner's certificates.
Mr. Gashan, Puntland's state minister for good governance, thanked Radio Garowe for hosting the Ramadan Competition and the award ceremony.
Abdinur Elmi Koor, Garowe mayor
"We wish to organize more competitions among the neighborhoods [in Garowe], such as a cleaning campaign by awarding the cleanest neighborhoods," Minister Gashan declared.
Garowe's new mayor, Mr. Koor, praised Radio Garowe for its "public service" and told the audience that he welcomes competitions to improve community participation and involvement in matters such as education, security and public health.
Mr. Mohamed Abdirahman, chairman of Radio Garowe Group, which includes the news Web site GaroweOnline.com, briefed the audience about the media organization's history starting as Garowe's first radio station that was under-equipped and under-staffed in 2003.
Mohamed Gashan, Puntland State Minister for Good Governance
"Radio Garowe remains an independent radio station that works for the community," said Mr. Mohamed, while pledging that Radio Garowe would support other community initiatives such as sports tournaments in the near future.
At the end, Minister Gashan handed out awards to representatives from the winning neighborhoods.
Source: Garowe Online
http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/pub ... ners.shtml
