It is an open secret that Muuse Geelle, the Chairman of Federal Electoral Implementation Team, was appointed on the recommendation of the Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni. Geelle acted unilaterally to invalidate the outcome of elections in Hirshabelle and South West State, while at the same time empowering Jubaland President to try to transfer the Gedo elections to Kismayo, failing that, he will delay elections so that the quorum to elect a President and a Parliamentary Speaker gets completed without MPs from Gedo, the Somalia President’s constituency.
The attempt by Damuljadid, the clique of the Former Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to rig the indirect elections with the help of a few handpicked FEIT members boggles the mind.
Adam Aw Hirsi, the former Gedo Governor, warned against any attempt to deprive Gedo of its right to conduct elections under the agreed electoral model. Jubaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islam signed an agreement that commits him to the letter and spirit of the electoral model. That he concocted baseless political dispute over Gedo elections sheds light on the stratagems of a wing of FEIT bent on damaging the integrity of elections.
The unresolved complaints of Banadiri clans whose parliamentary seats are allegedly being swindled by FEIT members appointed by Roble, the Prime Minister, is another obstacle to holding elections transparently. FEIT has no a mandate to override electoral outcomes certified by Federal Member States’ electoral body.
A more transparent approach could have been put in place had Federal Member States not been given free rein to conduct Upper House elections without the oversight of FEIT. The downgrading of the Somali federal institutions seems to be on the horizon if partial FEIT members do not get reined in.
G. A. Aden, Mogadishu
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