Somalilandsun: Jubaland government on Sunday spoke out against Anti-Regional Assembly motion proposed by what they called “Spoilers” in Mogadishu amid the Somali lawmakers.
Some of the federal Lawmakers tabled a motion to question about the legitimacy of the regional assembly, which was created on May 8, 2015 by Jubaland clan elders.
The motion was a blow to the planned Operation dubbed ‘Jubba River,’ on May 21. The announcement of the Jubba River coincided with a military equipment supplied by United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Jubaland forces in a part of liberating Al-Qaeda aligned militant of Al-Shabaab held areas in Jubaland.
Jubaland state’s President Ahmed Mohamed Islam (Ahmed Madobe) slammed the federal parliament, calling the recent motion “clannish, anti-federal and un-constitutional”.
Speaking with the local media in Kismayo, he said the Parliament came short of doing their assigned work before the 2016 vision.He demanded change of the federal Parliament in August 2016 and rejected any extension.
President Ahmed Madobe said, ” I wonder, Is Jawari a parliament speaker or a clan elder ?” If he is a representative of the Somali MPs rather than his [Rahanweyn] clan representative he should focus on protection of the law and the well-being of the Somali constitution instead of undermining it.”
Jubaland state’s spokesperson, Abdinaasir Seeraar, has called the motion “adversarial constraints and violent interference from Federal government of Somalia (SFG)” and called the politicians that are purportedly backing the move behind the scene “spoilers that are outside of the sphere of their legislative mandate.”
The statement of Mr. Seeraar further reads, ” these continuous attacks not only undermine the IJA regional assembly, but also lends legitimacy of political spoilers only committed to exploiting historical clan grievances in Jubaland.”
Meanwhile Jubaland House of Assembly joined with president Sheikh Ahmed Madoobe and sent a strong message to Mogadishu parliament and South West State President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan. Jubaland MPs called the motion ” breach of the constitution” and urged the federal government to refrain from actions that are abetting the terrorist group of Al-Shabaab.
Also on Sunday, authorities in Puntland condemned the motion against the Jubaland Regional Assembly and terms it un-constitutional. Puntland said in its press release that the Puntland will stand by Jubaland’s regional government and urged Somali Federal Parliament to focus on issues that are more important for the Somali people and its existence as a nationhood and let Jubaland State follow its course smoothly-to establish its legislative institution and judicial Service .
The vote is said has been postponed for two weeks following after the Somali militants killed a lawmaker, Yusuf Dirir, in Mogadishu on Sunday. Somali Federal parliaments’ reputation was tainted by motion scandal after they toppled two Somali governments after receiving bribes from politicians in Somalia- including President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.
Notorious Mogadishu-based media waged a smear media campaign against the regional government of Kismayo to challenge with the authorities in Jubaland in favor of their own clan politicians.Somalia has been plagued by clan rivalries for decades and rivals in the capital city of Mogadishu sought media as their only last option to unnerve the authorities in Kismayo after their militias allied to the Al-Shabaab rooted out from Kismayo and its outskirts by the Jubaland forces.
There is a report indicating that the Prime Minister plans to visit Kismayo this week to ease the new tensions between the Somali Federal Government and Jubaland State.
A Minnesota-Based Jubaland Diaspora Community (JDA) on Monday supported the people, Parliament and the president of Jubaland’s decision to condemn the unconstitutional motion presented by the few Federal Parliaments known their relentless efforts to stop the formation of the Federal Governance System, a press release published on Jubaland’s government run website (Jubbalandi.com) elaborated.
Last week thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhoobley, Diif, Kismayo and many others to decry the No-Confidence Vote against the Jubaland Regional Assembly. The protesters were waving the regional state flag and chanting ” We don’t want bribe takers”, “we don’t want disintegrators”.
Jubaland’s political process recent gave women and minorities more space and involvement to receive plaudits from the United Nations, IGAD ,the West and the neighboring countries who attended the opening of the formation of Jubaland regional assembly and its inauguration ceremonies.
Freelance Journalist
Aden Farah
