Somalilandsun– At a press conference hosted by President Muse Bihi in Hargeisa various constraints afflicting the administration were put forth.
Though the president with ample opportunity to address various tangible national issues in detail failed to do so thence a scroll through education, security etc his main focus wa political.
Accusing the local media for regular reports purporting that that planned parliamentary and local council elections slated March 2019 were untenable, President Bihi Said
“It takes 10 months to prepare for elections and since assuming office I have pursued this matter keenly”
The head of state said that despite his administration jumpstarting preparations for the ballot with allocation of funds to the national election commission-NEC, political wrangling is a constraint.
“We had initiated talks between ruling Kulmiye and opposition parties of Wadani and UCID but after first few rounds they collapsed” said President Bihi as he accused the Wadani party of holding the elections hostage
Stating that Wadani had and remains adamant to its demand that the current NEC be disbanded prior to any preparations or actual conduct of voting, the president said this was an impediment
According to the Opposition Wadani party, which accuses NEC of interfering with the November 2017 presidential in favour of incumbent president and his party, “the same commissioners supervising any other elections in the country is out of the question
Stating that Wadani party Leader Abdirahman Irro has refused to publicly accept defeat in the presidential elections he Muse Bihi won, the president advised the opposition party to submit its grievances to the courts as per the constitution, rather than holding hostage forthcoming elections.
Said he, “NEC is a constitutional body thence a specified tenure which means that I cannot accede to the Wadani demands for dissolution for lack of authority.
With this put forth clearly President Bihi said that current NEC commissioners shall not only stay in office until expiration of their tenure but conduct any and all elections during the same.
Coming after the now collapsed political parties consultative meetings , the president’s press conference has raised eyebrows with the populace.
The public debates tend towards the view that it is the responsibility of the president to salvage the Parliamentary and local council elections of early 2019 by seeing to it that the political parties consultative meetings are resumed.
Similarly members of the public are of the opinion that Muse Bihi is now the president of Somaliland and not chairperson of Kulmiye party, thus national and not partisan positions must be his priority
Mr President it is your leadership on national issues that citizens expect and await from YOU!
So come up with strategies that can accommodate all political thoughts in the country
Regards
Yusuf M Hasan
Editor-in-Chief
www.somalilandsun.com
Tel: +252-63-4415871 & +252-65-9094004
Twitter @somalilandsun
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