BLOGS
Will Speaker Jawaari’s resignation solve Somalia’s political instability
Somalia’s Speaker of the National Assembly, Mahamed Sheekh Osmaan Jawaari (Courtesy)
MOGADISHU—Somalia’s Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari, has resigned after a three-week power struggle with the country’s prime minister, officials say.
Jawari had held his position since August 2012 and has clashed with other lawmakers over a decision to withdraw an impeachment motion against the then president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 2015.
“We were in the parliament house this morning ready for the motion against the speaker. Then the deputy speaker came in and read a resignation letter from the speaker,” lawmaker Dahir Amin Jesow told Reuters.
The resignation of Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawaari came a day after the seizure of over $9.6 million in cash at Aden Abdulle international airport in Mogadishu from a plane that the police and the government believed had landed from the United Arab Emirates.
Lawmakers supporting Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire accused Jawari of “violating” parliamentary rules and of slowing down legislative affairs.
But Jawari denied the allegations, arguing that it was executive branch overreach from the office of the Prime Minister, which wanted him out.
Jawari’s camp said the executive branch proposed no-confidence motions against him in order to consolidate power.
It is not clear if Mohamed Jawaari’s resignation will ease the recent political tension in the country. There was no any immediate comment from president Farmaajo and Prime Minister Kheyre’s government which is partly backed by the African Union peacekeepers.
Somalia has been in a state of lawlessness since the early 1990s, when dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was toppled by warlords.
The Lower House of Parliament has two weeks to elect a new Speaker.
