Sharif's Farmaajo cabinet is taking for ever time is running out...

[General Duke]

Procedural bickering has once again thrown the Somali parliament into a deadlock. With less than one year left on its mandate, the approval of the proposed cabinet as well as the future of the transitional government is in doubt.

Less than one month after being approved by the Somali Parliament, Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed is now facing stiff political opposition in his race to rebuild the country's shattered government.

 

Just two weeks ago, Mohamed announced his chosen cabinet members, a pared down list of technocrats drawing heavily from the Somali diaspora. The group, which was cut down to 18 ministers from the previous 39 positions, was widely praised as a competent and promising team to move Somalia forward.

 

But hopes for Mohamed's tenure as prime minister took a blow Monday after parliament failed to approve his new cabinet. Mirroring the initial vote to approve the premier weeks ago, Monday's session ended in a shouting match over whether the ballot would be cast openly or in secret.

 

According to reports, fist fights even broke out among the 550-member body, prompting Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden to postpone the vote indefinitely.

 

Since being appointed by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has repeatedly insisted he would form a government based on experience, signaling a departure from the clan politics that have previously dominated the war-torn state.

 

Somalia's Transitional Federal Government has operated under the "4.5 System" designed to share power equally among the country's four major clans and a coalition of minor groups.

 

Mohamed's departure from 4.5 has been praised in some circles, but has received a raft of criticism from many in the Somali parliament, who believe the balance is critical to the government's legitimacy.

 

But Qatar University Somali Analyst Afyare Elmi says such complaints are simply designed to mask vested interests in corruption.

"There is no legitimate issue they have against the cabinet," Elmi said. "The problem here is that there are groups of politicians in Somalia that are benefiting from the status quo and they are trying to perpetuate and sustain the status quo. They cannot let a change of this magnitude take place at this stage."

 

According to Elmi, the group chosen by Mohamed is the best cabinet that has ever been named in Somalia. He told VOA it was the best chance the transitional government had to fulfill its mandate before it expires in August of next year.

 

 

[General Duke]

SOMALIA: UN envoy calls on the Parliament to exercise the spirit of compromise in their deliberations on the Cabinet

November 22, 20100 comments| leave your own! Share

 

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia, Ambassador Augustine P. Mahiga, today called on the Transitional Federal Parliament to exercise the spirit of compromise and judiciously deliberate on the new Cabinet.

 

“I trust that the period between the endorsement of the Prime Minister and now has been used productively to come up with a Cabinet that would meet the expectations of the Somali people.

 

“I am confident that the honourable Members of Parliament will employ the same sense of responsibility and unity which prevailed during the process of confirmation of the Prime Minister,” he said.

 

“The people of Somalia, as well as the international community, are eagerly awaiting the establishment of a functional Cabinet. With nine months left before the end of the transition period, Somalia needs a government that will prepare a Road Map and carry out the priority tasks of the transition.

 

“I, therefore, appeal to the Parliamentarians to bring the deliberations on the Cabinet to a conclusion that will advance the peace process. The United Nations and the international community stand ready to assist the new Government as soon as the Cabinet is endorsed,” Ambassador Mahiga said.

[Somalina]

Waraysi: Mudane Ismaaciil Hurre Buubaa (Bartamaha Nairobi)

Oo ka hadley

[oba hiloowlow]

Barlamaanka hala eryo xoolo waaye