By Mohamed A. Hussein

Many Somalis thought that the former Somali Prime Minister, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, would prevail, but those who follow Somali politics knew the writing was on the wall. The president, who persuaded over 150 parliamentarians to support a motion against the prime minister Abdiwali, insisted that, he, the president would not be able to work with the former prime minister no matter what.

Over 14 ministers were also reported to have asked the prime minister to resign in support of the President’s wishes. Even those parliamentarians, who supported the former prime minister by creating chaos and disruptions when the motion against Abdiwali was presented on the floor, knew eventually they would lose to a majority vote from the president’s supporters. The international community agreed with the president that the matter should be solved through parliament, even though they suggested the decision might not be fair since it is suspected of bribery.

Now that chapter of the former prime minister Abdiwali is history, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud comes out as a winner showing the whole world that he is in charge . He also showed the fate of the future prime minister if he or she decides to head the same way as the other two former prime ministers who went against him. To prove to the world and the Somali people that he is in charge and on the right path, the president selected Omar Abdirashid Shermarke as a replacement of the evicted Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed.

Normally, parliamentarians bring a vote of no confidence against a sitting prime minister when they suspect he or she has failed to perform their duty. In this case, however, the motion of no confidence had nothing to do with the government’s performance. The president himself admitted that his government, led by Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, made huge progress when he gave a speech at the recent New Deal Conference in Copenhagen. Also the Security Council stressed the progress made by former PM Abdiweli even though they urged the president to elect a prime minister to complete the tasks before the 2016 election.

Everyone is aware that the vote of no confidence against the former prime minister was based on a disagreement between the president and prime minister on how to go about running the government affairs, especially after the prime minister made ministerial re shuffle in which he moved the president’s friend, Farah Abdulkadir, from Minister of Justice to Minister of Livestock. If it is true that a prime minister who was performing well was ousted, then who should be blamed for postponing the progress the government was making towards reaching the vision for 2016? The answer to this question is clear: the president.

The president nominated two prime ministers without anyone forcing him to, but in the end he failed to work with them. He declared that he would nominate someone that he would be able to work with, while stressing the lack of unity is what held the previous transitional government back. In both cases, the ousted prime ministers were willing to solve the disagreement they had with President Hassan through negotiation, it was the president who insisted that he would not compromise. Both prime ministers accused the president of wanting to usurp their executive role.

An average person would expect that if the president is the problem then parliament should vote him out of office, but in this case it is different. The president is elected by the parliamentarians, who are accused of being bribed by the president and his team and as a result the majority of them are reported to be loyal to the president. And that is why every time the president disagrees with a prime minister, they rush to bring a motion of no confidence against the prime minister before they even debate his performance.

The president, knowing he has the backing of the parliamentarians, made sure that the prime minister is a cheer leader, unable to select his team as the constitution stipulates, so when the president needed it, the ministers sided with him, as was clear in both cases. What is more obvious is that even before the motion for the vote of no confidence was presented to the parliament, it was reported that the president had secured at least 150 votes. Despite all this, the president is claiming that he is following the constitution and his only intention is to accomplish the vision for 2016, but his actions show otherwise. When he was elected, the president immediately started to undermine those stakeholders who wanted to end the transitional government in order for Somalia to be recognized as an independent government. It is apparent that his policy is to eliminate anything that existed before him such as Somaliland, Puntland, Galmudug and Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a.

The president spent the first year of his administration ensuring that Jubaland not to become a state and eventually he was able to reduce it to an interim administration. Then, he started to create conflict between Galmudug and Puntland and moreover,  his troops are currently fighting with Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a in the central states. His ultimate goal is to secure his own reelection and he will do anything necessary for that to happen.

Given this facts, the Somali people are aware that they are in this predicament because of his dictatorial rule and they are committed not to repeat the mistakes of the past. The Somali people should not allow the president to succeed and they should protest right  before it is too late. They should not accept someone who rules them without an election free of manipulation. They should let the president know that his actions speak louder than his words.

The Somali people should not be ruled by another dictator and it is a matter of time before they prevail. The president still has a chance to change course. First, he should look at himself in the mirror and realize that he has twice failed to select the right person to work with. He should also realize that he was elected to be president to help the Somalia people, and he should put their interests first instead of, as suggested by Amin Amir, putting the interests of his team first. He should at least let the third prime minister select his own team and let him or her run the government instead of him trying to be a jack of all trades. This is a time when the president is given a lot of diverse advice, but soon it will be known whether the president has heeded any advice or has decided to continue in his own way.

If Omer Abdirashid’s  expected cabinet is dominated by members known to be  the president’s team, it would be clear that the president is micromanaging the PM’s responsibility , but if he lets the new prime minister select his own team, then it can be claimed the president wants to change course.

Mohamed A. Hussein
Email:mohabdhus@aol.com