Interior minister rules out polls delay in Galmudug

Interior Minister Abdi Sabriye has said elections for Galmduug state will take place mid this year contrary to an earlier statement from Galmduug leadership that the polls will be conducted in 2021.

Sabriye said the federal government was ready to oversee the elections in June noting that there will be no delay.

“We are ready to continue to hold the Galmudug election as planned in June this year and there will be no delay,” said Sabriye. “The information doing rounds (elections delay) are false; the people of Galmudug and the FGS will not accept any delay.”

The remarks follow the announcement last week by Galmudug state president Ahmed Haaf and his chief minister Sheikh Shakiir that the presidential elections for will be postponed to 2021 in line with the Djibouti agreement.

Shakiir who is the leader of the moderate Islamist group Alhusuna Wal Jamaa (ASWJ) entered into talks with Galmudug in Djibouti and Nairobi in December 2017. The two factions later signed a power sharing agreement in Mogadishu which saw ASWJ co-opted into a newly expanded government.

Sabriye added the attempts to delay the elections could erode efforts thus far in stabilising the central regions state.

“We have undergone lots of challenges in establishing the Galmudug administration and now we don’t want to go back but we need the administration to achieve its objectives,” said Sabriye