Mogadishu (PP Editorial) — The plan by the incumbent Federal Government of Somalia to sponsor constitutional amendments to the draft constitution will push Somalia to the edge of political fragmentation. In 2021 President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, then a Presidential Candidate, vehemently opposed a two-year term extension for President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. The thinking that animated his cautious activism has obviously deserted President Mohamud, who is now in favour of sponsoring an agenda to change the President-Prime Minister system to a President-Vice President system.
Such an amendment can only happen when it enjoys widespread support from the leaders and civil society in Somalia. Two former Somalia Presidents and three former Prime Ministers have criticised the “constitutional amendments plan”.
Somalia still relies upon African peacekeeping forces, does not have an inclusive national army, a part of the country claims to have unilaterally seceded from Somalia, a country rules under the UN Chapter 7 article. If those political facts are not enough to persuade President Mohamud to tread carefully and put national interest above clan or personal interests, he should remember that Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia still wears the ignominy of dispossession. More than 35% of houses in Mogadishu are illegally built on unplanned spaces since 1991, in addition to a large member of private property and government buildings (offices, schools, health centres etc) being occupied illegally since by subclans with armed militias, a trend of which Al-shabaab keeps to take advantage of through its mobile judicial system.
Senators and MPs selected by elders cannot vote on politically consequential amendments to the draft Somali constitution. President Mohamud and his NISA Director Mahad Salad resort to covert intimidation of MPs and Senators who fear that opposition to the fanciful political agenda of the incumbent President could lead to being hunted down by operatives masquerading as Al-shabaab agents.
President Mohamud has reneged on his promise to send MPs and Senators to the Federal Member States for consultations and return to Mogadishu with the feedback from parliaments of Federal Member States. In Principle the Federal Upper House and Lower House cannot ratify amendments that create political instability that can damage the modicum of legitimacy the Federal Institutions boast now. Any constitutional amendments ratified by the Somali Federal Upper House and Lower House will become null and void if a single Federal Member State rejects them.
© Puntland Post, 2023
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