Worst of both worlds:Somalia's hybrid system has been a recipe for political deadlock

[Liibaan]

Worst of both worlds: Somalia's hybrid system has been a recipe for political deadlock

 

First, I thought the hybrid Somali system that resembles the French political system was interesting, unique, and adopted the best of both worlds presidential and parliamentary system. However, the hybrid parliamentary-presidential system of Somalia’s proved unworkable under both Abduqasim’s TNG and Abdulahi Yusuf’s TFG

In 2000-2004, President Abduqasim couldn’t work with both Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galaydh and Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah

Also in 2004-Present, President Abdulahi Yusuf couldn’t work with both Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein

 

The main reason why the hybrid system is not working is because two bosses cannot work together, and because both president and prime minister don’t head a team (the cabinet) that shares collective responsibility and vision for the country, since the ministers are divided along tribal and ideological lines, the cabinet itself becomes a forum in which the competition for leadership continues.

 

In presidential systems like United States, President Obama chooses his cabinet after the issues of party and national leadership have been resolved by the voters. There is only one boss (Mr. President Obama)

 

In parliamentary systems like Britain and Canada, the prime minister chooses his cabinet, there is only one boss (Mr. Prime Minister), The Queen’s role is purely ceremonial, she has no real official power.

 

Because Puntland and Somaliland have a president who is the head of the cabinet (and there is no prime minister position), both systems proved more stability and efficiency then the political system of TFG (Abdulahi Yusuf) and TNG (Abduqasim)

 

I think the solution is to amend the Somali constitution;

1) Somali president can only serve one term of 5 years, there is no 2nd term, to protect the democratic system

2) The elimination of prime minister’s position, the country should have only one leader and only person as head of the government and the cabinet

3) Creating ceremonial vice-presidential position (like joe biden), the vice-president will replace in case of absence or incapacity and will assist the President in tasks delegated to him by the President

[Liibaan]

 

Somali prime minister sacked

 

In Somalia, the Transitional National Assembly has removed the Prime Minister, Ali Khalif Galaydh, from office in a no-confidence vote.

 

The Assembly's Speaker, Abdallah Derrow Issak, said lawmakers had voted overwhelmingly for the move.

 

The prime minister is currently out of the country, on a visit to the United States.

 

Correspondents say the no confidence vote is the latest development in an ongoing power struggle between the prime minister of the interim government and the interim President, Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.

 

In the past lawmakers have accused the government of being corrupt and ineffectual. The vote comes days after the president appealed to Somalis to come together for talks about the future of the country.

 

The transitional assembly was set up a year ago go as a way of ending a 10-year long breakdown of government in Somalia, but has so far failed to unify the county.

 

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

 

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Somali tension as mandate ends

PM Abshir Farah has fallen out with his president

The future of Somalia remains highly uncertain on Tuesday as the mandate of the three-year old Transitional National Government (TNG) expires.

 

President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan announced that his government would not stand down until a new government and parliament were formed.

 

But Prime Minister Abshir Farah says the TNG will be illegitimate from Wednesday, and accused the president of deliberately trying to make Somali reconciliation talks in Nairobi fail to justify prolonging his stay in office.

 

The TNG was established on 13 August 2000 after a conference of Somali elders and given a three-year mandate to reconcile the numerous warring factions in Somalia.

 

Fear

 

The Somali capital, Mogadishu, is reported to be tense with residents worried about the consequences of the stand-off.

 

President Salat Hassan of Somalia

President Salat says he will remain in power

They point out that powerful warlords who control parts of the capital have disagreed with President Hassan and have opted to continue participating at the talks.

 

The residents say that if a new parallel government is formed in Nairobi then renewed fighting is likely.

 

The president, who quit the talks on 29 July, accused the peace conference of taking an anti-Islamic direction saying that a transitional constitution being negotiated in Kenya would create a federal state that would divide Somalia.

 

Row

 

President Hassan's opponents have accused him of running scared.

 

"Abdulkassim wants the failure of the peace efforts we are pursuing in Kenya so that he can keep power. He felt he would lose out at this conference," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Farah.

 

There is no indication as yet of what action may be taken by President Hassan's opponents if he continues to ignore the Nairobi talks.

 

Over the weekend both the prime minister and the Speaker of parliament, who remain in Nairobi at the talks, were sacked in Mogadishu.

 

But the sacked prime minister - the TNG's chief negotiator - said the sacking was meaningless as the parliament did not have a quorum when the vote took place.

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Somalia Prime Minister Gedi Resigns

NAIROBI - The prime minister of Somalia’s beleaguered interim government has resigned, following intense international pressure for the leader to step down after three controversial years in office. But it is far from certain whether the resignation of Ali Mohamed Gedi will help the government unify or cause a further split along clan lines.

 

Speaking to VOA from the seat of the transitional parliament in Baidoa, an assistant to the speaker, Osman Bulleh, says Ali Mohamed Gedi personally delivered his resignation to interim President Abdullahi Yusuf, who accepted it immediately.

 

“According to his resignation, he says he has decided to resign for the benefit of the people of Somalia and the government. He says he will support anybody that is appointed as prime minister,” he said.

 

Mr. Gedi arrived in Baidoa from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where he had been meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and U.S. and other Western diplomats since earlier this month.

 

Mr. Gedi was summoned to Addis Ababa after parliament called for a confidence vote on his government and it appeared likely that the vote would be deeply divided. Fear the vote could cause fresh political in-fighting and chaos heightened after President Yusuf openly backed parliament members seeking to remove the prime minister.

 

Since the interim government was formed in 2004, Mr. Yusuf and Mr. Gedi have had a tense relationship, marred by clan rivalries. But they were also allies in their support for neighboring Ethiopia whose military ousted Somali Islamists from power and installed the interim government last December in Mogadishu.

 

Many ordinary Somalis bitterly oppose the presence of Ethiopians in their country and an Iraq-style, Islamist-led insurgency has gained strength in the capital since February.

 

Fierce fighting broke out again Saturday and Sunday between Ethiopian troops and insurgents. The violence reportedly killed and wounded dozens of people, including seven Ethiopian soldiers.

 

Describing a scene that has become depressingly familiar in recent months, a reporter for the Associated Press in Mogadishu, Salad Duhul, tells VOA that more shell-shocked civilians are leaving Mogadishu.

 

“Hundreds of people are fleeing today from war zones in the city. They are going to the outskirts of Mogadishu. This is the situation and it is tense,” said Duhul.

 

No clear candidate has emerged as the likely replacement for Ali Mohamed Gedi as prime minister.

 

But credible reports of a power struggle brewing inside the interim government between two large rival sub-clans of the dominant ****** tribe in Mogadishu are expected to complicate the selection process.

 

Source: VOA News

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Somalia President Dismisses Prime Minister

By VOA News

14 December 2008

 

 

The president of Somalia says he has dismissed the government of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.

 

Abdullahi Yusuf said at a press conference Sunday that he will nominate a new prime minister within days. Mr. Yusuf said he had dismissed the prime minister because his transitional government was unable to perform its duties.

 

 

The president and the prime minister have been trying for weeks to form a new cabinet. But Mr. Yusuf has rejected all the candidates for ministry posts suggested by the prime minister.

 

A presidential adviser said the ministerial candidates failed to meet the president's standards.

 

Last month, the president said insurgents were in control of most of the country and warned that the government was close to collapse. His remarks followed the capture of several key towns by Islamist militant groups.

 

Somalia's government has been unable to assert control since its formation in 2004. Islamists took over much of the country in 2006 but were ousted by Ethiopian forces acting in support of the Somali government.

 

The Islamists began an insurgency in early 2007, sparking almost daily clashes with Ethiopian and government forces. The fighting has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, aggravating the country's humanitarian crisis.

 

Somalia has not had a stable central government since 1991.

[Liibaan]

 

Somali Prime Minister Sunday rejected the decision by President to sack him.

·Hussien said he would continue to serve in his capacity as prime minister.

·The two senior Somali leaders have been in deep disagreement over variety of issues.

 

 

Somali PM says he cannot be sacked by president

 

 

MOGADISHU, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussien Sunday rejected the decision by President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed to sack him, heightening a growing political crisis in Somalia.

 

Speaking in the southern town of Baidoa, Hussien said that the president has no "legal authority" to sack him and that he would continue to serve in his capacity as prime minister.

 

"I do not accept the president's announcement today that he sacked me as prime minister because he does not have that legal authority in our charter," the prime minister said at a press conference in the southern Somali town of Baidoa, the seat of the parliament.

 

Hussein said that it was for the parliament to decide on the "constitutional breach" of president's decision to sack him early on Sunday after the president accused him of mismanagement and incompetence.

 

The two senior Somali leaders have been in deep disagreement over variety of issues including the way Somali national reconciliation is being handled by Hussein who has been spearheading peace talks with a faction of the Somali opposition.

 

The two leaders also disagreed last month over the appointment of new ministers in Hussein's cabinet.

 

Yusuf refused to endorse the new ministers appointed by the prime minister, following the resignation of 10 pro-president ministers who were excluded from the newly nominated cabinet.

 

The UN-brokered peace talks in neighboring Djibouti have led to a power sharing deal, but President Yusuf has expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement, characterizing it as "a clan deal."

 

Under the agreement, the current transitional parliament will be doubled, the government's interim period extended and a new leadership for the war-torn Horn of Africa country is to be elected at the beginning of the new year.