Nairobi (WDN) – In a sharply worded statement that strips away diplomatic niceties, former Speaker of the Somali Parliament, Mohamed Mursal Abdirahman, has delivered a blistering indictment of the Federal Government’s handling of South West State—accusing it, in effect, of orchestrating control rather than governance.
Writing on his Facebook page, Mursal portrays what is officially presented as an “interim administration” as something far more troubling: a structure imposed from Mogadishu, lacking both autonomy and legitimacy.
At the heart of his criticism is a recent move by the Federal Ministry of Interior to appoint a Technical Committee tasked with overseeing dialogue and reconciliation in South West State. To Mursal, this is not routine administration, it is unmistakable proof of direct federal intrusion into regional affairs.
The implication is stark: the so-called interim leadership is not in charge. Instead, according to Mursal, real authority lies elsewhere, with decisions being dictated from the center while local structures are reduced to little more than placeholders. The message, he suggests, is clear, South West State is not being governed; it is being managed.
More damning still is his characterization of the broader political project behind recent events. Mursal stops short of ambiguity, arguing that the campaign led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was never about stabilizing or strengthening the federal system. In his view, it was about breaking it—dismantling South West State as a cohesive political entity and reshaping it to fit centralized control.
That accusation cuts to the core of Somalia’s fragile federal arrangement.
At a time when unity, cooperation, and constitutional balance are already under strain, Mursal warns that the current trajectory risks accelerating fragmentation rather than preventing it.
He is equally scathing about the political actors involved. Those who played leading roles in what he describes as the “assault” on South West State, he argues, are now pivoting toward organizing so-called “one-person, one-vote” elections—despite what he portrays as an environment wholly unfit for such an exercise.
The criticism here is not subtle. In a region grappling with insecurity, weak administrative reach, and deep political divisions, the push for elections is framed not as reform, but as performance—an attempt to manufacture legitimacy where none exists. Transparency, credibility, and even basic feasibility are all called into question.
For Mursal, the broader pattern is unmistakable: sustained federal interference is hollowing out not just South West State, but the entire federal system. What remains, he suggests, is a structure in name only—its principles eroded by unilateral decisions and political expediency.
The warning is blunt. Unless the current course is reversed—unless governance returns to a framework grounded in law, genuine consultation, and respect for the will of the people—Somalia risks sliding deeper into instability and division.
In Mursal’s telling, the issue is no longer about one region or one administration. It is about whether Somalia’s federal model can survive the weight of its own contradictions—or whether it is being quietly dismantled from within.
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