Former PM Farmaajo declares 2016 presidential bid

Former Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Farmaajo has declared his candidacy for the 2016 presidential elections, making this a probable second shot after losing out in the 2012 poll to current President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Speaking to standardmedia in Kenya, Farmaajo said he was ready to his join the 2016 presidential race vowing to wipe out the militant group Al-Shabaab should he clinch the seat.

Farmaajo said Al-Shabaab remains a threat to Somalia calling on Kenya and Somalia to work together to cut off revenue sources for the group, a move he says could deny the group much needed cash.

“If elected these are some of the strategies I am going to apply in order to ensure the remaining regions under Al Shabaab are back under the government control,” said.

Farmaajo said the government should also ensure soldiers’ welfare including paying their salaries on time is well maintained.

“Insurgency cannot survive if you have the support of the people and this is the focus the government in Mogadishu needs to take,” he added. Mr Farmaajo asked the Somali government to work closely with their Kenyan counterparts if efforts to defeat Al Shabaab are to succeed

Professor Farmaajo was ousted in a UN backed deal in 2011 which saw the extension of the mandates of then president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and their deputies until 20 August 2012, when new elections were to be organised.

Despite his earlier stand that only parliament had the final authority to hound him out of office, Farmaajo bowed to pressure in June 19, 2011 following the Kampala Accord in which Speaker Aden had ruled Farmaajo’s exit as a condition of the deal.

After his departure from government in 2011, Farmaajo joined the presidential race in 2012 but got barely 12 votes out of the possible 275. With that he went back to academia teaching in American universities to date.