Somalia: South West State leader imposes sanctions on lawmakers in Baidoa
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The president of South West state Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed (Laftagareen) has imposed sanctions on the newly elected members of the Somali parliament.
According to our sources, Laftagareen ordered lawmakers from the South West in Baidoa not to travel to the Somali capital Mogadishu for the certification process.
Laftagareen also reportedly ordered several lawmakers in Mogadishu to return to Baidoa.
Some South West MPs have received their parliamentary degrees and ignored Laftagareen’s decision to reject the work of the Federal Electoral Commission, albeit very limitedly.
Lafta-gareen recently boycotted the work of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEIT), and said he would submit the list of lawmakers directly to the secretaries of the Upper House and the House of Representatives.
He also said in a statement last night that he had stopped working with Prime Minister Roble on election matters.
The South West decision came just hours after Roble said he had resigned from two members of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEIT) accused of disorderly conduct.
“The South West Government declares that the decision of the Prime Minister is illegal and violates the decisions and agreements reached by the National Consultative Forum,” a statement from South West said.
The statement added, “The South West Government will never accept the personal ambitions of Prime Minister Roble, who has been violating the independence of the Electoral Commission in recent times.”
“The South West Government shares with the Somali people and the international community that since the issuance of this letter it has suspended cooperation with Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble on electoral matters, and has lost the trust of the country’s electoral leadership which now needs to be to be rescued. ”
Analayst say that Abdiazziz Laftagareen has sided with outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo in efforts to stall the electoral process and thus stay in power unconstitutionally.
