Somaliland: Internal Conflict amongst Speakers Fuels Turmoil in House of Representatives

Hargeisa, 24 Dec 2013 (SDN) -The House of Representatives passed a motion instituting a recent committee reshuffle, controversial in nature, whereby both Deputy and Vice Deputy Speakers are at odds with House Speaker, Abdirahman Irro.

Deputy and Vice Deputy Speakers, Bashe Mohamed and Ali Yusuf, were absent at the voting session. It’s important to note that, by law, all three Speakers must be present in addition to 53 parliamentarians.
Mustafa Mohamed, Consultant to the House of Representatives on Legal Affairs, published a report expressing the constitutionality of recently implemented committee reshuffles.
House Speaker, Abdirahman Irro, chaired the 23rd Voting Session; 49 parliamentarians voted for; 1 parliamentarian against; 3 abstained; and, the House Speaker didn’t vote. The agenda was passed.
Saeed Elmi Rooble, a Parliamentarian representing Kulimeye Political Party, spoke to the press outside of Parliament Halls.
” Wow. Today was a great day for parliament. It resembled a Parliament that had the likes of Silanyo and Duuqsi and other great people. This is the parliament that I know and learned to love. We are ready to carry out the tasks our people expect of us; and, although both Deputy Speakers were absent- work is still on schedule”.
Parliamentarian Bashir Tuukale told the press that the House Speaker confirmed MP’s support for recent reshuffles.
“It was a great display of solidarity; a great display of parliament coming together, against the meddling of external entities, to remain steadfast and strong in decision-making. The House Speaker engaged in a fair and just manner by taking the vote; and, parliament responded in support”.
Parliamentarian Saleeban Awid Igge disagreed with the voting session’s intention.
” To be clear, it was rushed. We shouldn’t have done it this way. There were exterior motives at play. There’s a serious conflict between the Speakers. Parliamentarians are divided along party lines. This was wrong”.

Source: horn newspaper