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SOMALIA: THE PRESIDENT’S SUPPORTERS IN PARLIAMENT HAVE REALIZED WHAT THE SOMALI PEOPLE KNEW ALL ALONG

By Mohamed A. Hussein

Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali was expected to present his new cabinet to the parliament on Jan 17 for a vote of confidence, but instead the prime minister had requested to be given two more weeks to propose a new cabinet that would be acceptable to both the parliamentarians and the Somali people in general.

Newly elected Somalia PM Ali Sharmarke addresses delegates in the capital MogadishuThe prime minister realized that it was almost impossible for the parliamentarians to express their confidence in his newly nominated cabinet after it became known that some of the president’s supporters in the parliament had joined with the opposition group to oppose the new PM cabinet. The parliamentarians refused to give the prime minister the time he requested before he presented his new cabinet to parliament, which signaled to both the president and the prime minister that they are serious for their vote of no confidence.

However, the prime minister stated in a letter to the parliamentarians and to the media that he had decided to dissolve his cabinet after he consulted with members of the parliament and his friends from both inside and outside the country. They advised him to reconsider presenting the cabinet to parliament. Others even said that the international community, who had given the president room in all his previous conflicts with prime ministers, is now reported to have told the president and the prime minister that this time around they need to be serious about forming an inclusive government to prevent new chaos.

The prime minister announced this new cabinet on January 12, 2015. He said he had consulted parliamentarians including the opposition group, and he had considered the short time left before 2016. However, it is apparent that the government he wanted to present to the parliament was unacceptable. The prime minister included in his new cabinet four ministers who were blamed for voting out the previous government, which was led by ex-prime minister Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed. These ministers are Farah Abdikadir, Abdikarim Guled, Abdulahi Mohamed and Hussein Halene. The parliamentarians made it clear that they would not accept any government that included these four ministers.

list of Presidents friendsThe new cabinet nominated by the prime minister also consists of 60 ministers and deputy ministers, of which 49 are parliamentarians. Many people are asking whether it is necessary at this time to nominate so many ministers when people are dying from starvation in certain parts of Somalia. Others question how it is possible for the 49 parliamentarians who were nominated to be ministers to focus on both tasks when there are only 24 hours in a day, considering the huge tasks the prime minster had said need to be completed before 2016.

In addition, the new cabinet is perceived by the majority of Somali people to be a copy of the previous government, except without the ex-prime minister Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed. They wonder why the previous government was voted out by the parliamentarians if they were willing to accept this one. If parliament had accepted this cabinet, it would be a slap in the face for the Somali people and it would have allowed the president and the prime minister to run the government as they liked.

Despite knowing all this, the president and the prime minister were planning to present this cabinet to parliament based on the president’s past success with the current intake of parliamentarians.

These parliamentarians elected the president from the over two dozen candidates in 2012. As soon as the election was over, the parliamentarians were accused of taking bribes from the president’s team by those who were involved in the campaign. The president was able to oust two previous prime ministers through manipulating the votes in parliament, especially the last prime minister, of whom the president himself said that his government was performing well and that the only reason so far known for his departure is that he moved the president’s best friend from being minister of justice to being minister of livestock.

Is it reasonable for the president to think that after successfully sacking two prime ministers and nominating a third in less than three years, would be in a position to even consider the same cabinet with little regard for how parliament will vote?

Moreover, the Somali people have had to accept the president’s opinions since he had the support of the majority of parliamentarians. However, this time around, it seems that the president faced a different game. Over 60 parliamentarians who used to support him decided to form an opposition group, which if added to those who previously opposed the president make up the majority in the parliament.

It also appears that some who used to support the president now realize what the rest of the Somali people have known all along: the president only cares for a few close friends. However, on the other hand, other political analysts insist that his supporters opposed him because they were not on the list of ministers announced by the prime minister and as a result they decided to influence some of the president’s other supporters. Parliament even refused to give the prime minister time to present his ministers to them, indicating that they could not wait to reject this government.

This is the first time since the president was elected that parliament has opposed the president’s agenda. Most Somali people are wondering now what type of government the prime minister will nominate. And the answer to that question cannot be predicted.

Some analysts maintain that the prime minister will nominate mostly the same team, without one or two of those four ministers whom the parliamentarians said they do not want to see again since they had failed to perform their tasks before, and/or with the addition of two or three leaders from the opposition team. This will allow the president to regain his support from the parliament.

Others, though, are predicting that the prime minister will take advantage of this situation and directly ask the president to let him have an inclusive small cabinet, which would be acceptable to parliament and the Somali people.

When the prime minister was nominated by the president, many people expected that he would form an inclusive government and that is why the parliament approved his nomination overwhelmingly. When he nominated mostly the same cabinet, many people were disappointed.

Somali parliementHowever, the rejection of his cabinet by parliament and his willingness to form another cabinet are giving the prime minister another chance to undo his mistakes.

The prime minister is expected this time to nominate a small number of capable ministers, who will be able to focus solely on their jobs in the short time before the 2016 election:

  • He should minimize as much as possible the number of parliamentarians nominated as ministers.
  • He is also anticipated to consult with the president as the constitution stipulates, but not to accept from the president a modified list of the same cabinet again.

If parliament then rejects this new small group of capable ministers, it will be clear that the parliamentarians are not interested in safeguarding the interests of the Somali people and instead they are merely concerned about their own personal benefit. If they approve a government without any members of parliament, then the Somali people would know that this is a parliament they can rely on.

In either case, soon the Somali people will know whether the prime minister has realized the political situation he is in. The president will do anything possible to regain the support of the majority of the parliamentarians, even if that means nominating  few leaders from the opposition team to ministerial posts. Then things will be as before, where the president was able to dictate without regard for the interests of the Somali people and please only his few close friends, using any means necessary.

Mohamed A. H. Hussein
Email: [email protected]


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