Hiiraan Online
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Somali
lawmakers on Saturday overwhelmingly approved the country’s new cabinet
proposed this week by Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali.
In a
sitting attended by some 420 members of the Somali parliament, Dr. Ali’s
proposal was ratified by a show of hand where only 21 MPs opposed with only two
abstentions recorded.
But some
MPs were quick to reject the outcome of Saturday’s parliamentary approval
citing undemocratic procedure for the house business. Groups of opposition MPs
were seen walking out of the house in the mid of the session.
Somalia’s
parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan chaired the important house business where premier
Ali addressed lawmakers emphasizing on his agenda for the approved new
government.
The
premier told the bloated house that his government will ensure the return of
law and order in the country by promising to improve the fragile security
situation particularly in the restive capital Mogadishu.
Dr. Ali
promised to have a zero tolerance for corruption in the government as a means
to win the hearts and minds of the civilian populations. He further said the
government will continue spearheading the ongoing peace and reconciliation process.
The new
government of Dr. Ali is set to help Somalia to have an efficient governing
structure during its transitional period of one year as agreed recently in
Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Apart
from the fragile security situation, the government will have to contend with a
catastrophic humanitarian crisis of huge magnitude where an estimated millions
of Somalis are groaning under the weight of a protracted drought condition.
It is
just a bad season for Dr. Ali who is expected to test the tenacity of fighting
for the well-being of devastated Somalia and troubled Somalis at a time when a
combination of tragedies is affecting the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.
But to
avoid a premature resignation of his government like his predecessor Farmaajo, Dr.Ali has to maintain a tactful balance
between aloof president and an obstinate speaker.
The
president and the speaker had been at odds over the future of Somalia's
transitional government. TFG’s mandate
was due to expire in August 2010 but a Kampala brokered agreement has allowed
its extension until 2012 in exchange for Farmaajo’s recent resignation.
The international
community and donor groups are pressuring Somali leaders to chart a clear path
toward stability in a country that has never known law and order since the
ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Somali reporting by Mohamed Haji in Mogadishu, translation and editing by Abdullahi Jamaa