Somalia
President has 'no authority' to change Parliament's vote: Speaker
By
Sep 23, 2008 - 10:27:12 AM

BAIDOA, Somalia Sep 23 (Garowe Online) - Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament met on Tuesday in the southwestern city of Baidoa to debate on interim President Abdullahi Yusuf's refusal to accept a parliamentary vote earlier this month, Radio Garowe reported. [ READ: Govt 'faction' attending Djibouti peace talks: Cabinet sources]

Speaker Adan "Madobe" Mohamed chaired today's Parliament session, whereby lawmakers debated a letter from President Yusuf formally requesting that 10 Cabinet ministers who resigned in July be reinstated to their posts.

"The President's duty is to open Parliament sessions and to speak to lawmakers anytime he wants, but he has no authority to interfere with parliamentary procedures," Speaker Madobe said in parliament, to the applause of the legislators.

He stated that accountability hearings with the government and the ratification of government officials are "solely Parliament's duty."

Citing Article 53 in the Transitional Federal Constitution, Speaker Madobe declared that Parliament voted to send the request back to the President and that the resigned Cabinet ministers "will not be returned."

It is not clear how President Yusuf will respond to Parliament's decision, but government sources in Mogadishu told Radio Garowe that the Somali leader postponed an expected trip to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York City after renewed dispute with the Parliament.

Further, the Somali President dispatched to New York City Mr. Ali "Jengeli" Ahmed, who was Foreign Minister until he resigned in July to protest a feud between President Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein.

Last month, the President and the Prime Minister ended their public feud with an agreement that called for the return of the 10 Cabinet ministers who resigned, who are considered pro-Yusuf.

But the Parliament's intervention has thrown the Ethiopian-brokered agreement into question and potentially opens a new dispute within the Somali interim government, which was established in 2004 to restore national order in the Horn of Africa country after 17 years of conflict.

Source: Garowe Online