By Mohamed Abdiqafar H. Hussein

During the era of the transitional governments, Somali people always hoped that a “one person, one vote” system could be implemented before the end of the transition. However, eight months before Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected president, there was no other choice but to use the 4.5 system again.

The federal government claimed that because of its fight against Al-Shabaab, it was unable to accomplish all the steps needed to bring about a “one person, one vote”. Besides, most people did not want to allow the current government to extend its term in order to complete the steps needed for “one person, one vote,” since it had failed to accomplish its goals within the allocated time.

In addition, the international community did not want to see a power vacuum in Somalia, and only encouraged more participation, trying to legitimize the 4.5 system. As a result, the current government was elected based on the 4.5 system.

Almost three and half years later, the Somali people are still at square one when it comes to deciding whether the 4.5 system is to be used again, since the current government failed to achieve “one person, one vote” even though the Somali people had high hopes when Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected in 2012.

Somalis expected what Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, as president, stated when he was elected, that his first priority was to secure the safety of the city of Mogadishu and the country at large. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud seemed to be someone who did not participate in the civil war era and who would be able to accomplish “one person, one vote” by the end of his term.

Also, the Somali people expected that, just because this government would be the first recognized government of Somalia since 1991, it would finally be able to solve Somalia’s problem internally. They thought four years were more than enough time to accomplish all the goals the President set for himself, including “one person, one vote,” despite the fact that all the transitional governments had failed to achieve that goal.

Finally, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was considered a young man who stayed in Somalia during the civil war and worked on a non-governmental agenda to help those in need. People thus expected more of him, thinking that he could lead the country to the right path.

After three and a half years of being in charge, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated that he had made a lot of progress, such as moving al-Shabaab out of major cities that it controlled before and building states to become members of the federal government, but he admitted that his government failed to accomplish the most important goal of achieving a “one person, one vote” system.
The reason is that the President lost a lot of time by removing one prime minister after another. Because of those two prime ministers, the President himself nominated, refused his own dictate to undermine the constitution and his plan to orchestrate his re-election in 2016.

Instead of expanding reconciliation among the Somali people once he was elected, it seemed that the President thought that reconciliation was not needed, since his government had been recognized by the international community. As a result, he immediately began to ignore all the stakeholders who had signed the road map to end the transitional government.

He created states and supported certain individuals to be in charge who he thought would support his re-election. One of those states, Galmudug, did not even qualify to become a member state, since it only consisted of one and one half districts. And to everyone’s surprise, the President supported Abdikarim, who is well known to be one of the President’s best friends, for the presidency.

Another reason the government failed to accomplish much is that the international community, after realizing his intention, was not forthcoming with any financial help needed to develop the country other than funding Amison’s troops to fight with al-Shabaab. The President surrounded himself with a few friends who were able to accomplish all his ill-advised goals through bribery and corruption, even though the President claimed that his intention was to listen to anyone who had any suggestions regarding current affairs.

It seemed that the President wanted to end his term with this dead end, so that he could be reelected again in the 4.5 system through bribery and corruption, the same system he was able to oust two prime ministers out without any issues and that dampened his impeachment. All that and more are the some of the reasons why this government was not able to accomplish a “one man, one vote” system by the end of its term.

Despite all the upcoming meetings to discuss how the Somali people will move forward, it seems the President plans to use the 4.5 system again in order to make it easy for his re-election to occur through corruption-a well orchestrated plan that is working well so far.

It is clear that President took advantage of the shortsightedness of some of the regional leaders. First, the President convinced those leaders to allow the 4.5 system to be one of the four options on the discussion table. This does not make sense knowing the 4.5 system is unfair and unconstitutional and at the same time deciding it to be included as one of the options being discussed by the Somali people.

Second, to add salt to the wound, the President was again able to convince all regional leaders to accept the six cities he proposed to be the locations at which Somali people would be able to discuss which option is the best, considering the current situation. The President handpicked six cities, one from each of the four states that he recognized as state, plus two other cities, Jowhar and Mogadishu, knowing that the outcome would be that at least four out of six would want the 4.5 system.

It is too late now for the Jubaland and Puntland presidents to say that they would not accept anything resembling the 4.5 system because it is unconstitutional. Basically, they accepted the 4.5 system when they accepted it as one of the four options. Second, they accepted the 4.5 system when they allowed only six cities to be the locations where the votes would be collected, knowing that the President handpicked those cities and that no one questioned him.

A lot of people were curious to know what selection criteria were used to select those six cities. If the decision was based on states, then why were only Jowhar and Mogadishu included? If it was based on major cities, then why were Lascaanood, Marka, Dhuusamareeb, Bossasso and others not included in that list? The fact is that the President was able to outsmart these regional leaders in order to formulate the ongoing discussion to accomplish his goal of securing his reelection without anyone questioning him for one reason or another.

If this President, who admitted failing to accomplish “one person, one vote,” is reelected again through this 4.5 system, which he expects to work for him as it did last time, most of the blames goes to the regional leaders who are accusing the president of mismanaging when they themselves allowed the President to blindly walk alone on a bridge to nowhere.

Now, the question is, where do we go from here if the President succeeds in using the 4.5 system again. The Somali people want a system in which there is a level playing field, so that every Somali person has the same chance as anyone else no matter what. In order to get that type of system, first we need to answer the question of what is wrong with the two systems that are being considered now–an election based on the 4.5 system and an election based on district level.

Those who support the 4.5 system have said that there are a lot of districts that governments do not control; thus, it would be hard for any voting to take place in those areas. Those who support a district-based election have said that those who are elected in a 4.5 system do not represent any area; for example, those who represent Somaliland do not represent that region and thus, by default, would vote for the current system.

Both sides have a valid point, because the district election would be unfair if someone selects representatives for the district that regional governments do not control, and, likewise, the 4.5 system would be unfair if those who are selected do not represent any particular region, such as, for example, Somaliland.

For any system to be fair there should be seats of the parliament that are allocated to every group, region, or district. If a group, region, or district is not available to participate, then those seats should be reserved until those seats can be claimed by its rightful representatives. Any system that falls short of complete fairness will be a failure.

Mohamed Abdiqafar H. Hussein
Email: Mohabdhus@gmail.com