Mogadishu (WDN) Former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid and prominent Somali politician Abdirahman Abdishakur have both delivered strong warnings to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid issued a serious warning, stating that the authority of South West State has effectively been reduced to a subordinate structure directly controlled by the federal government.
He emphasized that there is no legal basis for replacing a federal member state with a temporary administration subordinate to the federal government. Elections, he noted, can only be conducted under a legitimate interim administration at the federal member state level.
He further warned that violations of the constitution risk undoing the progress that has been made, potentially reversing years of political and institutional development.
Abdirahman Abdishakur also stateted “President Hassan Sheikh is celebrating in Baidoa a victory that conceals a profound failure of statehood. The reasons are as follows:
1) He is celebrating after federal forces, allied with militias, overthrew the South West State administration. Four years ago, these same forces were engaged in heavy fighting against Al-Shabaab. This is not state-building—it is a diversion of the national army from its intended mission.
2) He is celebrating after appointing district, regional, and South West State authorities by decree, an overt assault on the federal system.
3) He is celebrating while the country effectively operates under two constitutions.
4) He is celebrating with only 42 days remaining in the mandates of constitutional institutions, without an agreed electoral framework—risking political turmoil and a constitutional vacuum.
5) He is celebrating while knowing that financial, diplomatic, and military support to Somalia cannot continue if his term expires without a political agreement to manage the transition.
6) He is celebrating even as transactional politics is running out of steam, without offering a clear leadership vision, strategy, or alternative.
7) He is celebrating amid rapidly rising living costs, soaring fuel and food prices, and a severe drought devastating the population.
If President Hassan continues on this path, ” it will result in economic collapse and political instability far worse than anything Somalia has previously experienced—making recovery even more difficult.”
WardheerNews