Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud has urged the country’s legislators to rise to the challenges ahead towards a planned universal suffrage vote in 2016.
“I congratulate you on this, your fourth session during this government’s period in office,” President Mohamoud told Federal Parliament lawmakers on Sunday.
“It is now time for action and delivery,” he said, before proceeding to outline the main tasks that lay ahead.
“This year we have embarked on a review of the constitution, implementation of federalism through state formation, and the democratisation process, all of which activity is to ensure that we realise Vision 2016.”
The term of the current post-transitional government formed in 2012 expires in August 2016.
President Mohamoud is by then expected to have laid the ground for a ‘one-man-one-vote’ election, the first in nearly five decades.
The President also updated the legislators on the ongoing military offensive against Islamic extremists.
He said that the Al-Shabaab militants were on the run, but noted that that the Al-Qaeda linked group was still a dangerous enemy that had to be eliminated for good.
“Every day we are taking new ground from an enemy in a headlong flight, putting us in a position to deliver the assistance that is so desperately needed by all those Somalis who have suffered terribly under Al-Shabaab.
“We now move into stabilisation mode and, with the help of our partners, must deliver basic public services such as humanitarian assistance, security, justice, good governance, healthcare and education.”
The speech at the People’s Hall came as peacekeepers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and Somali National Army (SNA) seized Qoryoley town, 150 km south of Mogadishu, in Lower Shabelle region, from Al-Shabaab.
The president urged the government and the legislators to build on these successes.
Reform public finances
Reform of Somalia’s public financial management system was also progressing well, he said. A new Auditor-General and an Accountant-General have recently been appointed after a competitive, merit-based selection process supported by the World Bank.
The Cabinet had also approved and sent to parliament legislation introducing a comprehensive taxation system, a critical step towards eventual economic independence.
President Mohamoud urged the cabinet and parliament to work closely together on the big strategic issues facing Somalia in the coming months.
Parliamentary speaker Prof Mohamed Osman Jawari said that the MPs in this new session will have to tackle two dozen draft legislations that will pave the way for transition to a fully fledged multi-party system by 2016.
“If the laws submitted by the cabinet are properly scrutinised by the legislators and eventually passed, they will ease the process of achieving a free and fair elections in Somalia,” said Speaker Jawari.
NMG
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