As Villa Somalia rumourmongering in Mogadishu lean towards the comeback of MP Fozia Yusuf Aden as the first female Premier of Somalia
By: Yusuf M Hasan
MOGADISHU (Somalilandsun) – The government in Mogadishu is temporarily in the charge of president Hasan Sheikh.
This follows a vote of no confidence in the Prime minister Abdiweli Sheikh by the Somali Federal Government –SFG Parliament that saw his entire council of ministers follow him out of office.
“The prime minister and his government are out of office,” Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari said as reported by Reuters
It is the second time in a year that a prime minister was voted out following a similar action against Abdiweli’s predecessor, Abdi Farah Shirdon, who was also removed from office in December last year after similar dispute with President Hasan over cabinet appointments.
According to Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed will remain in office until President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud nominates a new prime minister, who will then have 30 days to appoint a new cabinet.
The tensions between Prime Minister Ahmed and President Mahamud escalated on Oct. 25 when the president accused the prime minister of reshuffling his cabinet without consulting him, and demoting a close ally of the president, Farah Abdulqadir, transferring him from the minister of justice and constitutional affairs to the minister of livestock and animal husbandry.
President Hasan Sheikh opposed the changes and declared the reshuffle null and void, and organized the Somali parliament to lodge an appeal for a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Abdiweli.
As the norm and expected the president won the day after the speaker of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari announced that the SFG government is out of office after 153 MPs out of 235 voted in favor of removing the Prime Minister from office, 80 MPs voted against the motion and two MPs abstained.
Meanwhile rumours circulating Villa Somalia, office of the SFG president indicate that among top candidates for the SFG Prime Ministership slot is a female member of the Federal Parliament Ms Fozia Yusuf Haji Aden who doubled as the foreign minister and deputy premiere in the Shirdon administration.
The possible comeback of Ms Fozia Yusuf as the right shoulder of President Hasan is a correct political gimmick of wooing the international Community back to the SFG fold in lieu of the esteem that the former Foreign minister has within diplomatic corridors worldwide.
