No retirement deal for Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as State Officers Benefits bill still hangs in Parliament

Immediate former president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud formally exits Villa Somalia today, a place he has lived in for the last four years but his next abode remains anyone’s guess and so is his welfare going forward.

Thanks to lack of legislation which protects the welfare of state officials in the capacity of President, Prime Minister or House Speaker upon retirement, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s retirement benefits will largely be at the mercies of the incoming administration.

Unlike other jurisdictions with clear arrangements for retired presidents, Somalia lacks such a plan. Parliament debated the State Officers Benefits bill in November 2015 but that debate did not yield a law which would have guaranteed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke state support.

Bad blood between the House and Villa Somalia then sealed Mohamud’s deal. Parliament was still in impeachment mode after 90 MPs presented signatures to send the president packing mid August 2015.

In the bill however, Parliament had proposed good perks for the president, prime minister and house speaker alongside their spouses and children upon retirement. The state would pay the president 70 per cent of his salary for life in addition to a house, car and a full elite security unit.

A retired prime minister would be entitled to similar perks as the president save for security which is drawn down to two security personnel.

The bill also proposed welfare protection to the family of a president who is forced to leave office as a result of ill health or one who dies in office.

In the event of ill health and the president is forced to leave office, he or she will be entitled to 60% of monthly salary and all other benefits of a retired president in addition to medical equipment which shall be delivered either to his home or any other place as shall be identified by the retirement committee, parliament proposed.

The State Officers Benefits bill also caters for the welfare of the president’s spouses in the event of death while in office. The bill says the deceased president’s wives will get 70% of a retired president’s benefits, a furnished house, healthcare for the family, four security personnel, a driver and four wheel drive car.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and PM Omar Sharmarke (should he be relieved of duties by incoming administration) will now have to wait for the tenth parliament to revisit the bill and also hope it will have a retrospective application when it comes into law.