Five days and no direction, MPs point fingers at President Farmaajo

It is not clear what was to happen after the suspension of Saturday’s session

President Mohamed Farmaajo’s efforts to calm down political temperatures Saturday appears not to have borne much fruit as MPs are now accusing him of sitting back four days after a politically charged session of the Lower House was put off at the 11th hour.

Opposition MPs allied to Speaker Mohamed Jawari Monday evening said since the suspension of the session Friday, there was no progress yet to address the political stand-off which is now stretching into another month.

“We are where we were last Saturday,” Ahmed Fiqi (MP) said. “The President stepped in three weeks later but we are back to square one again.”

The lawmaker added ‘We are now questioning his responsibility to handle this issue. There is much more needed effort now than before.” Tension is still high in the country but we hope to resolve this matter in accordance with the law, the MP added.

The MPs’ remarks come days after President Farmaajo called for suspension of the sitting last Friday as Jawari and his first deputy Ibrahim Mudey declared they would convene session but each with a different item for debate.

Meanwhile MPs in support of the motion against Jawari said they would table it Wednesday (tomorrow).

The statements from the opposition MPs yesterday point to a problem postponed but not addressed despite Jawari’s pledge Saturday he would release a road map to implement the issues addressed with the President. It was not clear after the dispute was going to be resolved after the session was suspended as there was no information on the way forward.

In what could signify subtle tension in Villa Hargeisa (which houses Lower House leadership), Mudey yesterday said he was temporarily stopping House Secretary General Abdikarim Buuh accusing him of ‘political involvement’ in the ongoing dispute.

Buuh has since dismissed Mudey’s move noting the deputy speaker does not have powers to stop his work.