The Roots of the Political Crisis in Somalia

                      Somali President Hassan (right) and Prime Minister Abdiweli




The current political crises in Somalia between President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and His Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh is not new and stable government still remains the biggest challenge of the east African country which became example of failed state to other countries.

Without clear definition of the roles of each government institutions has led Somalia to have almost 11 prime ministers and 4 presidents within just 14 years! 

Whenever conflict arises between the president and prime minster, the solution from the parliament is just to sack the prime minister by passing a “no confidence motion” which clearly instead of solving the crises is just fueling it because whenever a prime minister left the office, the president will appoint another one of his choice; who possibly will go through the same consequences. Moreover, such approach towards solving political crises and ignoring to address the real challenge is only wasting time and weakness the government institutions by corrupted means. For instance, when the president wants to sack the prime minister he must get the support of the members of the national assembly by purchasing each members vote so they can pass no confidence motion against the current government. This is contrary to the principles of the democracy and the vision of having democratic elections in 2016, which I believe it’s impossible and there are other obstacles the country is facing in order to achieve such objective within short period.

It is understandable that the constitution which was introduced during the Arta peace process and some modification has been made during the transitional period; which brought the current government into the power is the foundation of the political crises, because it is not clearly defines the authority and the tasks of each government branches.  Furthermore, those who at that time their task was to modify the constitution believed that giving a huge power to the president will likely cause problems and they removed the article in the old constitutions which gave the president a power to sack the prime minster if he realized it as a political solution.

On the other hand, the other critical problem of Somali political system is that a president elected by parliament and the parliament itself is not from the public, in addition to this is a prime minister which is not elected both the parliament and people but they have to back him and give a support. So the governance system is complicated, and this political crisis will continue unless Somalis fix the corrupted system we are having, because the constitution is not clearly defines the role of each institution.

A golden opportunity was missed during the draft of the constitution in 2012. It should be addressed and defined clearly the task of each department whether it is the executive, legislature and judiciary.  

Way forward:

In order to solve these consistent political crises between the president and the prime minster, there are suggestions of strictly following one government system whether it’s presidential system or full parliamentarian system. Each of these has its advantages and drawbacks. The option of presidential system will produce somehow of executive stability, in contrary, it might produce dictatorship.

The parliamentarian system will enhance accountability and is inclusive if all society has representatives in the house. This requires a long time and a proper selection of the representatives.

Ebola is Not African Union's Problem

The Ebola outbreaks in West Africa is the world's deadliest to date and World Health Organization (WHO) already declared as international health emergency as almost more than 4,000 people have died for the Ebola virus. most affected countries include Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

This epidemic needs local, national and international cooperation to deal with it in order to stop spreading on other regions. the highest representative of African people which is African Union scheduled to have a high level meeting in Tanzania this week to discuss the crisis facing the continent whether its peace and security but one word is glaringly missing from their agenda which is Ebola.

AU Commission Chairperson  Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is chairing the meeting with AU special envoys, mediators, foreign diplomats and representatives from Civil Society organizations.

African governments and most pan-African institutions are making only marginal contributions to the fight against the biggest threat to the continent for years. Solidarity with the people of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone consists mainly of pledges and plans rather than action and cash.
By October 17 the death toll had reached 4,555. The infection rate is climbing while the urgent need for medical personnel, field hospitals, laboratories and protective equipment hugely outstrips the accessible supply.

Its understandable that the affected countries in West Africa are feeling abandoned by the rest of Africa and AU meeting without discussing Ebola will be another nightmare of the devastating situation in West Africa.

It looks like in Africa there is no collective response or strategy to combat one of  the deadliest and fastest epidemic the world has witnessed recently. but every nations is trying to isolate and control the movement of people coming from the affected zones such as imposing restrictions or  banning the flights coming from these zones , which is having a huge impact on the economic activity of the continent.


Up to date only few nations pledged some contribution, also the African Development Bank said it had committed $220 Million, which channeled through World Health Organization, in contrast to this and surprisingly the AU has made "uncommitted pledge" of $700,000. despite perceptions that it would be the largest contributor.

Absolutely it will be lack of responsibility if AU doesn't see Ebola as its problem or ignore it on their agendas while fellow Africans are desperately suffering or dying because of Ebola.

About Bashir Ibrahim

        

Bashir Ibrahim, Holds MM P&DM  from Wits School of Governance, University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Writes about governance and development issues in Somalia. also his interest include  Democracy, Development, Elections, Human Rights and Politics.