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Could Government by Consent Rise out of the Ashes of Division?

By Faisal A. Roble

Somalia is at a cross road. On the early morning hours of January 17, 2015, Prime Minister Omar AbdiRashid Sharmarke presented a well-though out proposal, a life-saving indeed, to a near-full-attendance house of the Federal Parliament of Somalia. The Prime Minister’s proposal has been dubbed a letter of dismissal of the controversial cabinet which he had put together on January 12, 2015. Technically speaking, as Reuters opined “the parliament has not officially rejected the new cabinet by voting but the Prime Minister said he would review his list.”

Most of the nation’s rage for the last one week focused on five members of the new cabinet whom some believe to be the source of Mogadishu’s “political turmoil.” These are ministers who have been retained from the previous administration. Although no legal instrument in the federal constitution bars them from serving their country, many associate these five with pervasive factionalism and “political turmoil.”

In the January 17, 2015 proposal, the PM requested of the parliament, which has the power to approve or reject the new cabinet, to: (1) differ its action on the list of the new cabinet; and (2) give him a period of 14 days – a cooling period to go bCumar Cavdirashidack and consult with members of the parliament at-large, stakeholders in the country, and all the contending sides of the parliament.

After a short speech by the chairman of the parliament, about 190 members, an overwhelming majority, supported the new proposal, whereas only 8 members opposed it. By mid-morning of the same day, the nascent cabinet was de-listed, prompting the PM to go back to the drawing board.

Fixing Villa Somalia’s Political Debris

Until his appointment to the premiership, Sharmarke briefly served as Somalia’s Ambassador to Washington DC. He enjoyed unreserved support both from the West and from the Somali citizens at-large. Prior to that, Sharmarke has been a Prime Minister in 2009 through 2010, and served the country at a very difficult time. He is credited to have made significant strides in rehabilitating the fledgling national institutions of the country, notwithstanding strong Al-shabab presence in Mogadishu. Given the chance presented to him again, he could do much better now for the social and political conditions in the country have improved compared to the past.

His predecessor, Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, was dismissed, not because of incompetence but rather because of a chronic in-fight with the sitting President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud. Worse, some Ministers in the former PM’s cabinet uncharacteristically called for his resignation. It was a new low point in Villa Somalia, and those ministers may have violated rules of professional engagement.

The political blood-letting caused by the unceremonious Prime Minister vs. Presidential conflict quickly percolated beyond the confines of Villa Somalia. For weeks, both Villa Somalia and the house of the parliament looked like an ungovernable terrain stained with political vendetta. Brawls aimed at President Hassan became a daily occurrence. Partisan politics stagnated the nation’s affairs. In the process, the President wasted whatever political capital he had; he came out of the fight toothless. As of today, his political standing even in his traditional support base has waned. Some even speculate that he is isolated inside Mogadishu.

Without a heavyweight coming to Villa Somalia, so thought many, rescuing the gains Mogadishu has so far registered seemed to be slipping off lest unprecedented factionalism clouded Somalia’s delicate 2016 vision – a comprehensive “plan for national reconstruction and reconciliation” drafted and bank-rolled by the West.

Sharmarke for obvious reasons, many Somalis think, is a storehouse of political legitimacy with the rare gift of political moderation. Despite the open-arms reception he received from the elites of Mogadishu, it is apparent that the President has not given him enough room to maneuver.

If given the chance, he may be the right person to clear the debris. Without him, though, Villa Somalia would remain a congregation of a petite clergy men and their associates characterized by shortage of political legitimacy as well as skills.

Unenviably though, Mr. Sharmarke’s new assignment is laden with all the proverbial political thorns covering Somalia’s political landscape. He is tasked to clean up a tri-dimensional political entanglement without stepping on any of the trappings in Mogadishu’s deranged political terrains: (1) a parliament that is divided with solid lines drawn on the sand; (2) a terminally incompetent and sectarian executive branch run by Deme-Jadid that is bereft of legitimacy; and (3) a country whose hopes to move forward and reclaim its nationhood have constantly been dashed. Bringing these factors under control is all the more a high toll.

The first attempt to take a stub at establishing a new cabinet, Prime Minister Sharmarke was informed by three equally weighty political factors, and these factors correctly advised his decision making:

  1. Achieving the following monumental tasks in a mere 20 months: completion of the formation of several commissions so far neglected by his boss; completion of a comprehensive revision of the draft constitution fraught with discernable gaps; completion of the federation of the states; establishment of a non-existent constitutional court; conducting an expeditious national census or a comparable population survey…, and finally preparation of the country for a national referendum on the draft constitution and a subsequent one-man one-vote national election.
  2. Fostering peace and collaboration between two competing groups within the parliament that grew out of infantile disorder following the ouster of Prime Minister Abdiweli Ahmed.
  3. Accommodating the President’s controversial men in the new cabinet.

It is evident that time, teamwork and tolerance of the “President’s team” (the 3Ts) heavily influenced the formation of the now-defunct cabinet.

Except the issue of the “President’s team” mainly consisting of five powerful but controversial ministers, Prime Minister Sharmarke’s design of his cabinet would have been acceptable to the nation at-large. Thus, the presence of the “President’s five men” among the cabinet could only be explained by a Somali parable of “baruurta baruuryaha qudhmisa,” or “one dirty flog spoils the entire clean water.” Whether the “President’s team” are intent of spoiling for the rest of the country once again is a thing in the future. The solution to this conundrum is rather in the hands of the President. 

Glimmer of Hope if the President Listens

Sensing a near-revolt by the House of Representatives and the recently formed “badbado qaran,” a coalition of several opposition groups, Prime Minister Sharmarke change of hearts on January 17, 2015 is the right course. He has shown willingness on his part to listen to the law makers and the nation. He is, to the best of his ability, mediating two entrenched camps. He also has done something of a political novelty in Somalia – confessing that he heard the outcry of the nation and will go back to the drawing board to address the demands of all stakeholders is a hope of sign for the comeback of Somalia.

The nation took a note of the gigantic task ahead of the new Prime Minister, and it is expressively ready to extend unqualified support to him. However, several names in his new cabinet and their coveted portfolios are feeding political frenzy. There seems a unified opposition to what is now termed in Somali media the “President’s five men.”

In the opinion of many, the Prime Minister did his share of pacifying the nation. Whether the President will choose the “President’s five men” over the hopes of his nation will be known in less than two weeks. If the President joins company with the Prime Minister in this journey to get to the “mountain”, it could amount to the beginning of a national healing, civic maturity, and a new course to give Somalis a government by consent. Is that too good to wish!

Faisal A. Roble
Email:[email protected]


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