Fahad Yasin dragged into pre-election crisis in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The director of Somalia's National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA] Fahad Yasin continues to be a thorn in the flesh with just a few days to the commencement of country's much-anticipated elections, with opposition team still accusing him of plotting "voter manipulation".

All top presidential candidates led by former Presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud along with immediate former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire on Saturday gathered in Mogadishu for a seminar where they warned the country's leadership from overseeing a manipulated election.

The team is expected to continue pushing for credibility after it emerged that majority of those selected to head the Electoral Committee were members of the NISA team, even though Villa Somalia insists that they are "law-abiding citizens" who are ready to help the country move forward.

But Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the immediate former president, still told reporters that Fahad Yasin has politicised the intelligence agency besides also politicising the security agents, adding that he was setting a bad precedent in the country's unstable political environment.

"He has hijacked the National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA] and has completely dismantled our politics. Our police service has been politicised and everything has gone south. He has simply destroyed our politics," the former president said in reference to Yasin.

More often than not, the NISA chief has often defended himself from the unending allegations, arguing that his work is not related to politics. At times, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has defended the agency, insisting that they perform their duties in a professional way.

Yasin, a former Al-Jazeera journalist, has often been also linked to the Al-Shabaab militants, with critics accusing him of cutting deals with the group and the expense of national security. However, these claims have never been independently verified despite being repeated all the time.

Somalia will hold parliamentary elections from next month before going to presidential elections in February 2021. The teams had settled on the improved clan-based electoral system but the composition of the committee has caused rifts among players.

GAROWE ONLINE