Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL)—Somalia’s parliament speaker has yet again reiterated that the parliament has decided to end the controversial impeachment motion against president after a consultative with some of the legislators who led the campaign to unseat the president.
The development follows two days of consultative meetings aimed at resolving the political crisis as the parliament speaker highlighted the importance of ending the stalemate which he said risks the reversal of political and security gains by the government.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mohamed Sheikh Osman has over again also ruled out treason and corruption allegations against the president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, an argument MPs used as a reason which they said forced to file the impeachment motion as ‘baseless’, terming large parts of the motion’s clauses as ‘unfitting’ to make solid arguments.
“The impeachment motion was not filed in line with the statutory procedure of the country.” Mr. Osman said in a lengthy statement, calling lawmakers to accept the parliament chair’s conclusion.
Despite the speaker’s conclusion, lawmakers leading the impeachment motion against Somali president have earlier dismissed his initial verdict which dropped the motion, brushing off warnings by the international community which said it could lead to a political turmoil in Somalia.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has subsequently warned against the campaign, calling the legislators to reflect on the country’s interests and avoid creating a political mayhem which he said could derail ‘progressive’ political and security gains in Somalia.
The United Nations has also added its voice to the international community pressure, calling for resolving the impeachment crisis through dialogue.
In the meantime, Somalia which faces a deadly insurgency by Al-Shabab has proposed holding presidential elections in 2016, however, Somali president has dismissed the likelihood of holding popular elections due to security reasons.
Somalia’s donors often express worries over perpetual political wrangling between presidents, prime ministers and parliament, saying the spat could inflame tensions and undermine the country’s recovery from over two decades of conflict