Trouble for Somalia as Somaliland polls team splits

Mogadishu

Somalia was on Saturday thrown back to square zero after a team it patched up to oversee elections for its northern regions splintered again.

A day after Prime Minister Hussein Roble thought he had whipped the group into one unit, a splinter group of the Somaliland Electoral Implementation Team (Seit) held a session in Mogadishu and elected Khadar Harir Hussein as chairman.

It depicted an enduring problem of lack of unity for a team meant to oversee elections for Somaliland, which has for the last 30 years declared unrecognised independence from Somalia.

It is the second time the same group elected Hussein as their chairman.

Those who met on Saturday were seven out of the 11 Seit members and held their election according to a schedule announced on Wednesday by the Federal Electoral Implementation Team (Feit).

In the letter, Feit, the body in charge of the overall management of Somalia’s election process, invited all 11 Somaliland Seit members to take part in the leadership election on Saturday at the Big tent at Afasyoni inside the highly guarded Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport.

Resolution not to attend

But on Friday, four members of the team announced their resolution not to attend the leadership election on Saturday. They are loyal to a section of Somaliland politicians led by the Speaker of the outgoing Upper House of Somalia’s Parliament Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, supported by prominent politicians who include a former Somalia deputy prime minister and a member of the Coalition of the (opposition) Presidential Candidates (CPC), Ridwan Hirsi, and Former Information minister Abdi Hayir Mareye.

Prime Minister Roble congratulated the seven members for electing a leadership, ignoring the absence of the four members.

However, a few hours later, the opposing four Seit members who declined to take part in the arranged election elected their own leadership. Aidid Osman was elected chairperson while Abdishakur Abib Hayir chosen as deputy.

The scenario depicts two opposing groups within the same team, but having distinct leadership.

On Thursday, the Speaker of Somalia’s Upper House of Parliament, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, accused Prime Minister Roble of being impartial on the leadership of the Somaliland Seit meant to manage the election process for the representatives of Somaliland in Somalia’s bicameral parliament.

Speaker Abdullahi spoke at a gathering in the Somali capital Mogadishu, where the Somaliland’s politicians are provided space to contest for 46 legislative seats in the Lower House and 11 seats in the Upper House.

Downgraded

The Speaker insisted that PM Roble downgraded the four team members he nominated out of the total 11 members.

To have a team to manage the Somaliland elections, Speaker Abdullahi was to appoint four members, the Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled alias Khadar nominated another four while PM Roble appointed an additional three to represent the Federal Government of Somalia.

Speaker Abdullahi told his audience, “The prime minister called the four members of the team that I nominated and told them that he was now in charge of the Somaliland elections.

“He (PM Roble) said, ‘You have to be part of the leadership election, otherwise you will be out’,” the speaker said, accusing the premier of abuse of powers, adding that the members in question were appointed by him.

“This cannot be accepted in any way.”

Speaker Abdullahi suspects that PM Roble is sympathetic to one side (the one lead by his Deputy PM Guled). He stated that he cannot trust a PM who is favouring one side.

“Therefore, I am going to beg the Somali people to serve justice,” he said.

Re-election

On August 3, PM Roble met with all the members of Somaliland electoral team, telling them a re-election will take place and a timeline for re-election of the team’s leadership will be set. He urged them to be independent from political sides and show neutrality as per their terms of reference.

In July, a rift emerged within the 11 Somaliland Seit members. Four of the team members siding with Speaker Abdullahi elected their own leader and deputy leader. In a similar fashion, the remaining seven elected their own leadership.

Since then, PM Roble has unsuccessfully been trying to reconcile the two sides.

The Federal Electoral Implementation Team issued a letter on Wednesday outlining the decision to hold the Somaliland Seit’s leadership election by Saturday.

“The election date is Saturday, 7th of August, the venue being the big tent at Afasyoni,” stated the letter.