Puntland and Jubaland Should Have Kept Their Word

By Ali Hassan Dajuma Kismayo

Mogadishu (Opinion) — Puntland and Jubaland went back on their word about Somalia elections. Leaders of the two federal member states boycotted Dhuusamareeb Summit. To accommodate their demands the whole agreement had to be thrown out, and with it the Electoral Law.

At the Zoom-based conference President Said A. Deni accused the Federal Government of “stuffing electoral committees with loyalists, and suggested that the constitutional review process be put on hold.”

Poor political judgement: President Deni (left) and President Ahmed reject an electoral agreement they enthusiastically signed.

The Federal Government has no any role in the selection of MPs and Senators to be conducted in Puntland-controlled areas. By backing the argument of the argument of Presidential Candidates President Deni injudiciously aligned himself with non-stakeholders who endorsed an agreement boycotted by Puntland and Jubaland.

Ahmed Mohammed Islam, Jubaland President, rejected the electoral agreement he had signed. His argument that Jubaland cannot organise selection of MPs and Senators in Gedo is far-fetched.

He ventured beyond Jubaland politics to question the process through which Somaliland MPs will be selected. Unlike Puntland, Jubaland is a multiclan federal member state.

If Jubaland President sticks with his decision to violate the electoral agreement he joyfully signed, Mogadishu is likely to become the venue for selecting federal MPs and Senators from Jubaland.

Eight years have elapsed since Jubaland President, then a head of a militia group, captured Kismayo with the help of Kenya Defence Forces. He is the longest-serving leader of a Federal Member State.

He’d spent a half of his tenure on a rift with successive federal governments. He hasn’t transformed himself into a consensus builder. Choosing the path of a spoiler could bring his term in office to an unceremonious end.

By Ali Hassan Dajuma, Kismayo