Mogadishu, (WDN)– As communities are evicted and public and private lands seized, a lawmaker breaks his silence on what he calls the “deliberate dismantling of legality” in Somalia’s capital.

In a dramatic and deeply emotional address to the media, Senator Cabdi Xasan Cawaale (Qeybdiid) sounded the alarm on what he described as a “ruthless, state-backed land grab” engulfing Mogadishu under the watch—and direct involvement—of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

“The rule of law is dead in Mogadishu,” Senator Qeybdiid declared, his voice trembling with frustration. “The constitution no longer matters—because the president has made himself the constitution.”

The veteran lawmaker accused President Hassan of orchestrating mass evictions and land seizures through the office of the Benadir Regional Police Commissioner, Macallin Mahdi, claiming the campaign has already displaced countless families and upended entire communities.

According to Qeybdiid, attempts at mediation and appeals for restraint have been coldly dismissed by those in power. “We went to Macallin Mahdi and pleaded with him to stop the forced evictions. His response was chilling: ‘Once a letter comes from President Hassan Sheikh, nothing can be stopped,’” Qeybdiid recounted.

The senator didn’t speak in abstractions—he spoke from personal pain. “My own family was renting out plots of land—legally. But they were removed by brute force. Government-backed bulldozers came, and no one could intervene.”

He painted a picture of a city where power reigns and rights are trampled, where government machinery is deployed not to protect citizens but to displace them. “What’s happening in Mogadishu isn’t just theft—it’s the institutionalization of oppression,” he said.

With somber urgency, Qeybdiid condemned the leadership for exploiting Somalia’s legal vacuum. “There is no Constitutional Court. No legal redress. In this legal darkness, the president’s word has become law,” he said. “This is not governance—it is tyranny in broad daylight.”

The senator expressed profound disillusionment. “I used to believe in the system, in justice. Now I tell people: live however you can. There are no laws left to live by.”

Qeybdiid’s bold stand is being hailed by many as a rare act of political courage in a time of fear and repression. As evictions continue and the cries of the displaced echo through the capital’s broken neighborhoods, one truth becomes clearer by the day: Somalia’s democracy is gasping for air—and its people are paying the price.

WardheerNews