Statehood Charter of Puntland Declared Defunct by Critics

[Deeq A.]

From Top left: Founding President of Puntland Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Mohamed Abdi Hashi (founding Vice President), President Deni. From Bottom left: Juha (incumbent interior minister), Mohamud Shiddo (political leader), Ahmed Awad and Ali Haji Warsame (founding members of Puntland Political Forum).

Garowe (PP News Desk) — The government of Puntland State of Somalia is facing a legitimacy crisis a week after Sool, Sanaag, Cayn and Khaatumo (SSCK) was granted federal member status. This new development has reinvigorated the Puntland Political Forum (PPF), an opposition group that previously played a key role in returning Puntland to the “66 model” electoral process in 2024.

PPF has now called for a grand conference to prepare Puntland for the “second phase” of state-building and congratulated SSCK on its new status within the federal framework of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

PPF rejected the 2023 amendment to the Puntland Constitution, which mandated political parties. The 2024 Puntland State presidential elections further delayed the multi-party system envisioned by Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni, in the absence of consensus across political stakeholders.

“Puntland Political Forum foresaw that the Laascaanood conflict would reshape Puntland State as we know it, but President Deni adopted a wait-and-see approach, until the Federal Government of Somalia executed a surprise political move that left President Deni with limited options for negotiations on the direction of Somalia beyond 2026,” said a senior PPF member.

Mohamud Shiddo, a senior politician in Puntland, echoed the views of the PPF. “SSCK is now a federal member state,” Shiddo said in an upcoming interview highlighting the pressing political challenges facing Puntland stakeholders.

The SSCK MPs in Puntland Parliament

PPF has long criticised the participation of SSCK MPs in Puntland’s controversial constitutional amendments. Shiddo stated that many of those who selected Deni as president in 2024 were chosen illegally. According to him, the 17 MPs from SSCK were handpicked by Deni. In December 2023 the SSCK administration elders  had declared that they would not appoint representatives to the 2024 Puntland State Parliament.

“Their [(MPs’)] positions in Puntland’s political system are untenable. SSCK is no longer part of Puntland State of Somalia. Therefore, the 1998 Charter on which Puntland was founded is now defunct,” said a researcher based in Garowe.

The end of SSCK representation in the Puntland Parliament has added more political pressure on President Deni, whose administration has been unable to operationalise the political parties that emerged following the 2021 and 2023 local government elections.

President Deni was elected under the 66 model in 2019. His critics argue that he cannot change the political system or transition Puntland to a multi-party system without a transparent process. He has not been able to counter accusations that his control of Puntland’s finances, combined with the absence of an independent judiciary, legislature, and Auditor General, undermines the democratisation process in Puntland State of Somalia.

One year has passed since President Deni was re-elected for a five-year term under the tradition-bound 66 system. Puntland State cut ties with the Federal Government of Somalia in 2023.

Questions are now being raised about the nature of UAE-Puntland relations and the risks posed by foreign-funded security forces to the peaceful coexistence of communities in Puntland. The Economist newspaper this week described Puntland as a republic that had seceded from Somalia. The Puntland State Presidency has not refuted the claim made by the London-based weekly.

© Puntland Post, 2025

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