Somalia President slammed for tampering with elders’ list

MOGADISHU, Somalia-Federal Government of Somalia’s (FGS) President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has come under heavy criticism for influencing the electoral process amid heightening skepticism over whether the country can hold elections on the timetable later this year.

Acting on the instructions of President Mohamud, outgoing Parliament Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari included a new elder in the list of the 135 traditional elders set to be a base for the electoral process.

The move clears the way for former Constitutional Affairs Minister and the President’s right hand man—Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir—to return to the next parliament at the detriment of his closest rival, Fahad Yasin who comes from the same clan as him.

Yasin managed to shore up support for his run for a MP among his clans elders, challenging omnipotent Abdulkadir for the coveted parliamentary seat.

Jawari wrote to the Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT), and asked for the new clan elder Mohamed Ahmed Hussein (Shukri) to be added to the list in a letter leaked online on Tuesday. FEIT gathers under the chairmanship of Presidential appointee Omar Degey.

Shukri would serve as the substitution of the clan’s titled elder, Mohamed Abdi Omar whose role was limited to dealing with matters in Southwest State.

--‘Opposition frowns on Jawari’

The letter by the concluded Parliament’s speaker drew scathing criticism from a roster of challengers in 2016 Presidential election.

Members of Coalition for Somali Political Parties issued a press statement, calling on international community members to intervene swiftly, and save the electoral order.

They lamented the schemes to hold on to the power of the state, and frowned on “the former Speaker Jawari” for acting in favor of the President.

Continuing, the opposition recalled Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir’s notorious role in the removal of two Prime Ministers from the office.

“The coalition is deeply concerned about the partisan practices of National Leadership Forum (NLF) that was expected to exercise impartiality and political openness,” read the statement.

Somali political leaders are to meet in Mogadishu on September 7 for talks on the preparations for a Presidential vote scheduled for October 30.

GAROWE ONLINE