Press Release
Mogadishu, Somalia
October 11, 2015

The Sponsoring Committee of the Impeachment issues this urgent press release in response to the corrupt and unethical manner in which the Speaker of the Somali parliament is managing the Impeachment Motion against President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

1. The Sponsoring Committee of the Motion issued a press release dated October 6, 2015 in which it made it clear that it will not enter into a forced dialogue with the President as illegally ruled by the Speaker when he unconstitutionally assumed the powers of the judiciary and claimed that he dismissed the motion. The public is indeed a witness that we heeded the counsel of the Speaker when he previously advised us that we should first exhaust dialogue and that if the talks fail, he would expeditiously send the motion to the courts.

2. We assert that now the Speaker of the Somali Parliament Mohamed Osman Jawari reneged in that promise and has demonstrated that he is not a good faith arbiter of this complex dispute, our committee will only enter into dialogue if the Speaker sends the Motion to the Court forthwith.

3. Our Committee submitted to the Speaker two letters dated September 25, 2015 and October 1, 2015 in which we advised him of the following:

(a). That the Speaker does NOT enjoy constitutional powers to dismiss motions of impeachment against a sitting President.
(b). That Speaker issues a public clarification of under what authorities he can dismiss the motion.
( c). That our Committee will not take part in any dialogue or talks as long as the Speaker illegally insists that the motion is dismissed.
(d). That the Speaker must forward the motion to the court in accordance with the Constitution and also the Rues of Procedure.

4. It has come to our attention that the speaker yesterday ( October 10, 2015) arranged a hastily organized meeting ostensibly designed to represent an official meeting for dialogue between the President and the Sponsors of the motion. Unfortunately, eight personalities invited to that meeting are renegade members of the motion signatories who have been corrupted by the Speaker and the office President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, fully in the knowledge that these renegade signatories are not allowed to change their minds under the Rules of Procedure until such time they cast their vote in parliament. This is a blatant disregard for the Rules of Procedure of parliament and the very idea of the Rule of Law and also indicates the continuing culture of corruption in Somalia that is now spreading its tentacles even in the office of the Speaker of the Somali parliament.

5. Consequently, the Speaker of the Somali parliament has lost our confidence because of his on-going corrupt practices in the management of the motion. We shall fully soon expose the fact that Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari is using the motion as a carefully crafted “ project” to unconscionably enrich himself through bargaining with the motion, and the fact that he himself is an accomplice in the selling, auctioning and benefitting from the sale of public lands.

6. We remind the Somali public that the Speaker of the Somali parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari, has deliberately stomped on the constitution of the Republic and the Rule of Procedure of the House of the People. He has illegally assumed the role of a judge and his pronouncement that the motion has been dismissed is illegal and unconstitutional. We further remind the public that by his actions mentioned above, Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari has brought disrepute to the House of the people by engaging in corrupt practices.

7. We further remind the Somali public that contrary to the daily barrage of propaganda leveled against us that we are motivated by prospects of power positions, we are not after positions of power. We are motivated by a strong desire to end impunity in our country whether it is regarding corruption, mismanagement or human rights violation and we are confident that all the allegations raised in the motion of impeachment would be aired one way or another.

8. We remind the Somali public and our international community partners that the Impeachment Motion against President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is still seized within the office of the Speaker of parliament and we urge him to release it to the courts forthwith.

9. Lastly, we stress upon Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari that choices he makes in the management of the Impeachment Motion will have the full force of constitutional and legal consequences.