Garowe ( PPM ) – Puntland State is entering a new stage in its history. In March the Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission unveiled seventeen political associations. How this large number of associations can contest in the limited political space of Puntland remains a mystery.
The origins of Puntland State lies in the initiative to form an autonomous administration consisting of several regions . Unlike Somaliland, which formed political parties that have a veneer of diversity but turned out to be tradition-bound and nepotistic, leaders of Puntland political associations realise that vagueness in their political programmes and clan-based nature of of politics make operating as a political association a hard sell.
Of the seventeen political associations, three parties will emerge after the end of local government elections “on the basis of one person, one vote”. Aware of the political completion ahead Mideeye (Unifier) has begun to campaign in Nugaal. In their Facebook accounts some political associations such as Kaah (Light) are already identifying themselves as political parties.
Puntland Minister for Aviation Hassan Gabiley has registered Kaah with TPEC. The incumbent political association plans to field Hassan Shire, the Finance Minister, as a prospective candidate for Puntland Presidential elections in 2024.
Key senior leadership members of Mideeye include Ali Haji Warsame, who served as Puntland Education Minister, and Abdi Farah Saeed, a former Federal Interior Minister.
President Deni reportedly distanced himself from “possible failure” of the democratisation process, making the TPEC the sole organisation charged with the task to bring the programme into fruition.
In the absence of clear rules that bar Kaah from using public resources for political purposes, remarks of President Deni forebode pitfalls into which the democratisation process can fall. Puntland State Government controls resources of the heavily centralised Federal Member State. TPEC is an organisation with a limited mandate. “President Deni is shirking his responsibility to form a consensus with stakeholders if he thinks only TPEC can no the job. TPEC plays the role of a facilitator. A repeat of 2013 fiasco must be prevented” Mursal Hassan, a member of Bosaso civil society told Puntland Post.
TPEC is mandated to organise local government elections through which three parties will come out on top. A new body, Puntland Electoral Commission, will take over from TPEC to conduct 2024 presidential elections in Puntland.
What remains to be hammered out are solutions to a possible constitutional crisis from the outcome of the planned local government elections. It is not clear how Puntland stakeholders will respond if Kaah is eliminated as a political association in local elections. Less clearer is the solution to the political problem that might crop up if a non-incumbent political association wins the largest number of constituencies in Puntland. President Deni might give in to calls for a coalition government that might be called for in such an eventuality.
Successful implementation of the democratisation in Puntland will emphasise decentralisation in a state that identifies itself as the progenitor of federalism in Somalia.
© Puntland Post Monthly, 2020
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