Somalilandsun: After a lengthily sojourn abroad thence an absence in the country politician Mahmud Hashi Abdi has returned just as he left, silently that is without any fanfare as is usual in Hargeisa with departing and arriving senior politicians
Though Mahmud Hashi has been a senior member of the immediate past administration of president Silanyo in which he held the position of aviation minister and later that of powerful presidency minister, his influence to day emanates from his quest for the top position of current ruling Kulmiye party.
During his prolonged stay abroad mainly in various European countries like the UK, Germany, Sweden and France among others, he met with Somaliland citizens in the Diaspora to whom he , Hashi, informed of his ambitions to lead Kulmiye party.
His many sentiments abroad were not the first of the ilk since he had on several occasions in Hargeisa declared publicly his quest to lead Kulmiye a party he is among founding members.
The party is currently led by President Muse Behi who took over the chairmanship immediately upon election of Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo as president of Somaliland in 2010.
The ascension of Behi to the Kulmiye chairmanship was as per pre-2010 presidential elections memorandum of understanding with Silanyo the then leader to relinquish the position once elected as head of state.
Since the election of Muse Behi as Somaliland president in late 2017 the Ex-minister and his close allies have been clamoring for the head of state to honour the MOU with Silanyo that placed him at the party leadership by relinquishing the chairmanship this time to Mahmud Hashi.
To date, two years later president Behi is still the chairman of party and the Hashi and cahoots quest remains a dream far to attain since the incumbent hasn’t shown nor touched on matters pertaining to his descending from the top party post.
As it was in the past both at home and abroad Mahmud Hashi has been very vocal in his demands for Behi to relinquish the party chairmanship and for him, Hashi, ascension without any opposition.
But the fanfare devoid return of the politician to the country much to the chagrin of many of his supporters leads to assumptions that an under the table deal has been reached between him and president Behi.
The most poignant pointer to the suspected deal between the two is not absence of elaborate welcome for Hashi at the Egal international airport in Hargeisa but his failure to brief members of the press.
Despite the rumours of the alleged deal between the two that have inundated social media in the country Geeska Afrika media house sources indicate that President Behi and Mahmud Hashi nor their representatives have not been in consultation as pertains the future of Kulmiye parry leadership.
Contrary to the allegation president Behi in his capacity as chairperson recently chaired a Kulmiye party executive committee meeting in Hargeisa where arrangements were set in motion for holding the party’s General assembly in June 2020.
It is during this general assembly that a new party leadership shall be elected if president Behi religious his post and likewise other senior leaders.
While Mahmud Hashi who a member of the party’s central committee from where leaders are chosen from it is not yet clear if he and President Behi are in tandem as per process during the June General assembly.
That being so, and prior to the June General Assembly issues are at dagger points and the future of the Somaliland Ruling Kulmiye party hinges on how the two principals and their supporters within reach a compromise.
