Garowe ( PP) – Puntland Government fired Jamal Arab Yusuf, Director of Puntland Television and Radio, for airing National Independent Electoral Commission advertisement on Puntland State Television.
Dahir Aflow was appointed as the Acting Director of Puntland Television and Radio. “Somalia will move away from the indirect, clan-based electoral system to one person, one vote elections in 2021” the advertisement said. Puntland State Television has removed the advertisement from its archives.
Puntland rejected the new electoral law passed by the Somali Federal Parliament in December. The unauthorised advertisement resulted in the closure of NIEC offices throughout Puntland. The advertisement called into the question the position of Puntland administration about the controversial election plans drawn up by the incumbent Federal Government of Somalia whose mandate ends in February 2021.
Jamal handed over to the Acting Director of Puntland Television and Radio yesterday. At an event for media professionals in Garowe, Puntland Information Minister, Ali Sabarey, alluded to Villa Somalia-sponsored social media campaign against Puntland. “We might come across as intolerant of media but we are aware of media war being waged against Puntland” Mr Sabarey said.
The Federal Government of Somalia led by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed commits funds to Twitter and Facebook campaigns against critics and rival administrations. A network of trolls runs the campaign.
Trolls report to Ali Yare, a man who organised demonstrations for President Mohamed in 2011, when Ugandan President, Yuweri Museveni, forced President Mohamed, who was then a Prime Minister of the former Transitional Federal Government under President Sharif Ahmed, to resign.
© Puntland Post, 2020
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