By Mohamed M Adde – Horn of Africa Editor, The African Gazette
Electoral process in Somalia has been delayed many a times. Each time a new crisis crops up – it dents the little confidence Somali people have on the indirect election process, where Somali clans are expected to pick their Members of Parliament, who will vote for the next President.
Many people were dismayed at how the federal senators were selected and elected in Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug and South West states when potential candidates were barred from the selection deliberately.
So far, the senators of Hirshabeelle and Unionist politicians from break away Republic of Somaliland are yet to be elected. The delay is due to internal disputes among the clans. There were attempts to bridge their differences in those two groups, but still they proved to be problematic to hold elections peacefully.
Why can’t indirect elections be completed amicably?
The National Consultation Forum, which consists of the five Somali regional state Presidents and the Mayor of Mogadishu, met the caretaker Prime Minster in Mogadishu and agreed on a new election procedure, which reversed all previous procedures of the indirect election. This created a new tension and an obstacle, which changed the whole business of indirect election and its management.
The National Consultation Forum planned to have more say over the future Parliamentarian selection in their states. That idea upset many people including Presidential hopefuls. The Presidential candidates objected to the new agreement and voiced their concern.
As result, a six member committee was formed from Presidential candidates and the National Consultation Forum to iron out the disagreement over the issue.
The regional states want to have more influence in the clan section of their representatives of the lower house of Somali parliament, whereas the other side argued their role ends in indirect election facilitation only in their respective states.
In some cases, it has been alleged that they want to put their friends or family members in the lower house of Somali Parliament. That is considered to be an electoral fraud and not acceptable in any circumstances. The procedure needed amendments – if elections are required to be fair and transparent, according to Presidential candidates.
The selection must be the duty of local clans as leading civil society groups. After all, this country is supposed to be democratic and local chiefs represent their clans. That was the reason the caretaker Prime Minster sought to meet Presidential candidates, so that he could sort out electoral concern in time, before they wreck the entire indirect elections.
Free and fair indirect election.
The electoral committee has to demonstrate their independence from political interests. The idea of having free and fair indirect election cannot be easy or manageable, if the electoral committee try to ignore the encroachment of politicians of their technical work.
The public cannot be fooled and would not accept theatrical indirect elections like the ones conducted in Senate elections. Some irregularities were reported in all states and many people including the Presidential candidates do not want see any involvement of regional states in the technical work of the elections. That is the task of electoral committee, who had been entrusted this responsibility in previous procedures.
Need of checks and balances in the process
The main thing is that there are deep mistrusts among clans in all regional states. Every clan wants to select their representatives without interference. The federal system experiment, which was meant to take services and representation closer to the Somali people have been hijacked or abused.
The mismanagement has reached a point where many people cannot afford to buy even a bread in some states whereas in some other states, new inter clan fighting has emerged. Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland and South West federal states are among the worst hit areas and people are not sure what the future holds for them.
Regional state politicians and federal politicians need to put in place more checks and balances, so that the system does not lose its credibility and the political elite stays relevant in this critical time.
The future of federalism is bleak
It is a common knowledge that Banadir region which is the most populated region in Somalia has been frozen out from politics deliberately. Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has more people than the population of all other cities in the country put together.
It cannot be justified that Banadir doesn’t have parliamentarians or senators in the two chambers of Somali Parliament. Whatever the reason of its misrepresentation in the system, the city remains the seat of the federal government and its tax is the sole income for the government to supplement with foreign aid.
All these concerns have been there for some time and clans seem to have run out of patience. The only hope they have now is to choose their own representatives in the Parliament in a peaceful manner and if that is compromised, Somalia is likely to mirror the government collapse in Afghanistan.
If disagreement continues, surely the future of Somali federalism is bleak.
Democracy or Chaos?
Peaceful indirect election can lead a peaceful power transfer and the country will continue to recover from deep civil strife. The public services – schools, universities, hospitals is not ideal, but in place now. All hopes are pinned on peaceful indirect elections in September and Presidential election in October.
No matter what, the Somali political leaders are expected to fulfil their promise in holding the delayed indirect election. If that does not happen, surely there will be no second chance. The country is at critical crossroads now.
The clans want to choose democracy over chaos. However, corrupt politicians are using delaying tactics and probably are NOT reading the public mood and the writing on the wall, as their days are numbered.
Mr. Mohamed M Adde is a household name throughout Somalia and beyond as a seasoned journalist who worked in the Horn of Africa region and UK. Over the years, Mr. Mohamed has edited over 40,000 radio programmes. He now lives in Mogadishu after leaving the BBC World Service, where he writes pieces and articles for radio and news websites. In the past, he worked as a teacher, a lecturer and a trainer in Somalia and overseas in public and private sectors. Amongst other things, Mr. Mohamed writes and lectures on the Declaration of Universal Human Rights, Child Rights and minority rights. Mr. Mohamed is a keen supporter of Somali literature, poetry, storytelling and folklore dance and he is an honorary member of Council of Somali Poets.
The post Somalia at crucial crossroads: Is a free and fair indirect election possible? first appeared on The African Gazette.