President Hassan Sheikh’s Abuse of Power

November 5, 2012 | Filed under: Opinion / Fikrad,Warka Maanta | Posted by:

OPINION / FIRKRAD | President Hassan Sheikh’s Abuse of Power-A Warning and Advice from Karanle Communities in Scandinavia

Actions of the newly elected President of Somalia Mr. Hassan Sheikh so far show utter lack of vision, experience and leadership. It also seems that he gets bad advice from his aides. Examples of such actions include:

  1. How the President ignores the reconciliation framework that starts in Kenya in 2004 on which the current power-sharing federal state system was established, thus violating the Constitution that was recently adapted and ratified by representatives from all Somali clans.
  2. How he mixes politics, religion, clan and group interests by favoring his Party (PDP) and the new religious faction, Dam-Al-Jadid to which he belongs over the rest of Somali politicians, professionals, business people, civil society groups, etc.; thus reinventing the circle of politicized religion that started with Islamic Courts Union and which Somalis and the international community want to end.
  3. How he so quickly forgot his promises as candidate and President-Elect regarding the promotion of reconciliation and fairness which are necessary sustainable peace and stability in Somalia.
  4. How he directly interferes with the Prime Minister’s work of selecting his cabinet members on the bases of the relevant constitutional framework, thus undermining that the power-sharing framework in which the powers of the President, the Parliament and the Prime Minister are delineated, which in turn undermines the legitimacy of the government.
  5. How he fails to consider the efforts and the sacrifices in blood, money, time and energy made by Somali security forces and AMISOM troops to secure the control of the territories retaken from Al-Shabab. This is so because the alienation which results from the President’s policy actions with regard to certain key communities and regions will negatively affect the level of support which the troops get among those communities and in turn the sustainability of peace in their areas.

Given the unwise actions of President Hassan, and given what is at stake for the Somali people, for the Horn region and for the international community which invested so much in the efforts of stabilizing Somalia, the Karanle intellectuals living in Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) call on:

-          The IGAD member states and the international community to check President Hassan’s actions which can undermine reconciliation, peace-building and reconstruction of Somalia which is what the Somali people want.

-          The international community to make any financial support to Mr. Hassan’s regime conditional on how he respects the democratic rules of the game and how his policy actions are legitimate the Somali people.

-          The Somali Parliament to block the illegal cabinet which the President has selected to advance his own and his groups’ interests. And if he continues to behave in dictatorial manner as he is doing so far, the Parliament should impeach Mr. Hassan because he was elected by the Parliament and has no popular mandate or legitimacy from any other source and because the Parliament along with the Supreme court has the responsibility as the guardian of the Constitution.

-          Other clans whom Mr. Hassan treated unjustly to rise, reject such decisions and if necessary boycott his regime and those have good relations with it including members of the international community who prove to be biased towards some clans at the cost of others.

Having said that, Karanle intellectuals in Scandinavia are aware of the fact that the current constitutional framework is not perfect and that reforms in the state apparatus are needed. The fact however is that:

a) the current framework is what all Somalis agreed to as a means of reconciliation which means that no one group or person including the President himself can unilaterally violate the current power sharing framework;

b) reforms should be based on and preceded by consultations and decisions about the objectives, the rules and procedures upon which all stakeholders have participated and agreed to. No game without common rules for it! Therefore, the current constitution applies until it is amended or a new one is promulgated.

Mr. Hassan and his aides should know this and be careful about their actions!!.

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Statement by,

Karanle Communities in Scandinavia

Email: karanlesweden@hotmail.com , scandaniviankaranle@hotmail.com

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2 Responses to President Hassan Sheikh’s Abuse of Power

  1. wacyigelin December 8, 2012 - 10:55 pm

    I think it is part of propaganda that is going on these days against the president. This porpaganda is to dismantle the government as certain Somali tribes are not able to dominate and manipulate as they did in the past with other transitional govenments. The predisdent is doing his job justly and wisely. One of the things that former presidents did not dare is the nomination of minority officials in top ranks of the government. Those tribes who did not see their faces in the ministers will benefit from the government in one way or the other so they need to support it. A minister from your tribe will not help you as much a strong Somali government can do. Peace and prosperity is what we need more than ministers. When the govenment is able to fund its ministries then there might be more ministers but now we need to economize the less funds that the govenment has.
    Don’t listen to the propaganda of those who do not want to see any Somali govenment unless they are controlling it.
    They say the prime minister is not autonomous to creat a conflict and confuse people and mobilize against the govenment.
    I suggest to every Somali individual who cares about Somalia to support this government to become strong and lead to another elected strong government that can alleviate the long term conflict among the Somalis.

  2. faarax November 5, 2012 - 10:39 am

    Arrintan waa sax. runtii ayaey ka hadleysaa
    Waxaan farayaa in MPs ay kasoo horjeestaan wasiirada cusub oo ay faraan Madaxweynaha inuu howsha u dhaafo Raysilwasaaraha isla markaana dhaafaa qabiileysiga iyo saaxiib raadsiga ee uu u daneeyaa Soomaaliya.