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EDITORIAL: Parliament must carry the nation to the ballot tomorrow

Storyline:Archive, National News, Opinions
A policeman marches holding a Somali flag during a parade in Mogadishu, 11 December 2007. Photo: JOSE CENDON/AFP/Getty Images)
A policeman marches holding a Somali flag during a parade in Mogadishu, 11 December 2007. Lawmakers will tomorrow choose between personal interests and those of the nation. Photo: JOSE CENDON/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 328 members of the August House will tomorrow exercise the all-important civic duty of casting the vote for a new president whom the expectations and aspirations of many a citizen will rest on for the next four years.

This comes after four failed attempts at getting the act together to elect a new office holder since Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s constitutionally sanctioned term lapsed September 10, 2016.

More than 12 million citizens at home and abroad have entrusted the MPs albeit not by choice with the mandate of electing a new president. They would have wanted to do this on their own; they had hoped they would but it never came to be.

Be that as it may, Somalia is hoping to get a new president tomorrow whose tray is already full. From attending to the immediate drought disaster which the UN is warning is slipping into a famine to the country’s economy and security among a host of other challenges, the new leader must be up to the challenge.

The final test

There have been multiple cases of run-away bribery, intimidation and a myriad of election irregularities during the Lower House and Senatorial elections. Despite the challenges, the country has what it could under such circumstances. The Presidential election is the final test of whether we will have a president beholden to the whims of ‘financiers’ or one whose absolute loyalty and service is to the people of Somalia.

The remaining 36 hours or so must be a time of reflection for all Senators and members of the Lower House; a time to choose what is worthy between self-aggrandizement and the interests of over 12 million people who have staked their case for a better future on the very House they have either directly or indirectly chosen.

Parliament is one of the country’s very august institutions and is no doubt why it is referred to as the August House. It is a House bestowed with honour; therefore as you cast your vote tomorrow, it is the hope of millions of Somalis that you shall uphold the honour of that very House.