YES SIR: Farmaajo’s Lower House does it again, reverses own vote

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Lower House hurriedly voted this afternoon to annul its own resolution as it did on April 12 to add Mohamed Farmaajo two more years in office affirming its willingness and blind loyalty to Farmaajo who has freely used it to advance his course for the last four years.

All the 140 lawmakers present yielded to Farmaajo’s request without question to re-endorse the September 12, 2020 Mogadishu Agreement between Farmaajo and Presidents of Federal Member State. The vote effectively annuls the April 12 unilateral resolution which purported to add Farmaajo two more years in office.

The Upper House which Farmaajo treats with contempt has previously dismissed the resolution as ‘illegal and non-binding’.

FOREIGN CONSPIRACY

Farmaajo was brief and visibly angry in a speech which he used to attack Puntland, Jubbaland and ‘foreigners’ for conspiring to destabilise the country and cause ‘bloodshed in Mogadishu’.

“I respectfully request the Members of the House of the People to allow us to implement the Political Agreement Law on the direction of the Federal Parliamentary Elections 2020/12021 which was previously approved by the Parliament on 26/09/2020,” Farmaajo’s letter to House speaker Mohamed Mursal read in part.

Hitting back at his political enemies, Farmaajo said. “I urge all of you, who are in the dark about the political situation in the country and the difficult situation we are in, to agree with me to go back to the consensus you ratified on September 26th, 2020.”

The beleaguered leader also noted he was handing over the electoral process and security to Prime Minister Mohamed Roble.

“I want to make it clear that Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble will take the lead in preparing and implementing security for the elections, as well as implementing the security plan in accordance with the country’s constitution,” he said.

BOWED TO PRESSURE

Farmaajo returned to the Lower House after it became untenable to hold on to power. Local and international actors had isolated him.

The UN had led a pack of western donors including the U.S, UK and EU in demanding for a return to the negotiating table. The latter three threatened sanctions against Somalia and travel bans on key people in Farmaajo’s administration.

The African Union which Farmaajo was banking too had no better treat for him. It condemned the April 12 resolution and called for an immediate return to talks. On the local front, Mogadishu was on the brink of full-scale violence.

Even as Farmaajo eats his pie humble, focus turns to the Lower House which has become the highest bidder’s spot. The lawmakers whose term ended December 27, 2020 have become Farmaajo’s magic wand and have for the longest during its term aided in the mutilation of the constitution through the passage of defective laws and grossly neglecting the role of the Upper House.