Setting ground for polls takeover, Farmaajo ‘suspends’ PM Roble’s powers
GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Mohamed Farmaajo, whose term as President of Somalia lapsed on February 8 has for the second time in three months claimed to have suspended the powers of Prime Minister Mohamed Roble in a continued feuding between the two leaders as the country enters into the sixth month of an electoral circus with no end in sight.
Villa Somalia said Sunday night the outgoing president had suspended the powers of the PM following his decision to move defence Minister Hassan Hussein Haji to the justice docket. Haji swapped positions with his Justice colleague Abdullqadir Maxamed Nuur (Jaamac) who now takes over as Minister for Defence.
In the statement, Villa Somalia said Roble had taken the action despite an investigation into his alleged grabbing of land belonging to the navy in Mogadishu’s Liddo beach. Navy commandant Abdihamid Mohamed Dirir claimed last week Roble, alongside ‘powerful’ individuals in government had grabbed the land.
However, Farmaajo also ordered Somali National Army chief Gen. Odowaa Rage to suspend Dirir from work ‘according to the ethics and rules of the Somali National Army.’
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The Villa Somalia fiat is one among another round of public spats with PM Roble at a time the country is stuck in an electoral quandary. The two leaders had bitter exchanges over the weekend over the management of the elections.
Farmaajo said Friday night that Roble had failed to deliver his election mandate and that he was convening a meeting with the Federal Member State leader to deliberate on the leadership of the electoral process. But Roble hit back accusing Farmaajo of deliberately undermining the electoral process and clinging on to power.
This is not the first time Farmaajo has purported to suspend the powers of the PM. On September 16, he announced the suspension of the PM’s powers following a sharp fall-out over the disappearance and alleged death of spy agent Ikran Tahlil Farah.
The effect of the decree remains unclear since there was no announcement on the lifting of the September 16 ‘suspension’ to warrant a second one.