Yesterday Somalia’s president, Mohamed Farmajo announced that he was suspending the executive powers of his prime minister, Mohamed Roble due to the twist in a feud that has plunged the country into a deep political crisis. On an immediate basis, he has suspended the powers of the prime minister to hire and fire government officials in the country.
Farmajo, who has had differences with Roble over the running of government affairs, accused the prime minister of making hasty and unilateral decisions without prior consultations with the presidency. He also accused Roble of deviating from his mandate on steering the electoral process, saying his hasty decisions could lead to political and security crises in the country.
Amidst other serious concerns, Farmajo also blames Roble to infringe on the rights and salaries of the security forces as well as the misuse of power by certain institutions. These decisions and policies do not augur well for the running of government affairs.
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Several political thought leaders and regional analysts said the rift between the two Somali leaders could weaken cooperation between government institutions and if left unchecked may plunge the country into political turmoil.
International Crisis Group (ICG) asserted that the clash between its two top leaders risks upsetting what little stability the country has enjoyed while diverting politicians from other priorities. By calling on Somalia’s partners and donors to publicly name the saboteurs, threaten them with sanctions if they do not change course, and prepare targeted measures.
It is advised that both sides need to take a step back from the brink. Rather than constantly finding new issues over which to duel, they should instead focus on bringing the long-overdue elections to completion.
