Samatar becomes first female acting president of Somalia

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU:Sadia Yasin Haji Samatar, the 1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament on Sunday became the first female acting president of the Federal Government of Somalia after both President and Speaker left the country on separate foreign trips.

Samatar goes into the books of history as the first woman to hold presidential powers in Somalia. Though temporary, this will be yet another first for Samatar who was elected in April as the Deputy Speaker of Somalia’s tenth parliament, becoming the first woman to be elected parliament speaker in the country’s history.

The country’s provisional constitution stipulates that in the absence of the President, the Speaker of the House of the People shall act as the acting president and in the absence of both, the First Deputy Speaker, shall act as the acting president. 

The Somali President is in Abu Dhabi on a two-day official visit at the invitation of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Saeed.