At least 14 MPs drop impeachment bid as standoff holds

The standoff over the impeachment of president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud today eased off as 14 pro-impeachment MPs dropped their bid but a majority over 80 others stuck to their guns bent on sending the president home.

The consultative meeting today aimed at finding an amicable solution to the impeachment headache which has now dragged on for close to two months ended without the presence of majority members who want the president impeached.

But the meeting registered some progress with 14 members of the impeachment caucus acceding to the speaker’s decision to terminate the motion.

In what could be seen as further taking the heat away from the president, the speaker Mohamed Osman Jawaari said parliamentary committees will summon respective cabinet members to respond to charges against the president.

UN Assembly

The speaker called the meeting after he struck down the impeachment motion a day before the president travelled to New York for the UN General Assembly, a move that the impeachment caucus saw as saving face for the president in the international arena.

The pro-impeachment MPs, most of whom had declared their determination to soldier on with the motion gave today’s meeting a wide berth and today evening held a media conference to stamp their position.

“As we said earlier, we no longer have faith in the speaker. We have declared our position and we are ready to pursue this motion to the end,” said Professor Mohamud Gure, one of the proponents of the motion.

2016 elections

Procedurally, the motion will have to be held back for another six months before it is tabled in the house but the impeachment caucus has indicated it is seeking the court’s intervention.

Concerns have been raised over the timing of the motion with the UK ambassador in Mogadishu terming it ill timed and detrimental to the 2016 elections.

“What we are very clear on is that the elections happening in 2016 were a priority and there was a real threat that an impeachment motion especially so close to a planned election date was really going to end up delaying the election and actually not providing an additional help in terms of holding the government to account,” observed Harriet Mathews.

The current administration is remaining with barely nine months before it folds up.