Parliament summons Foreign Affairs minister over appointment of ambassadors

Parliament has summoned Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Garad to explain how the government plans to implement the 2013 Foreign Service Law which among others prescribes procedures for appointment of ambassadors.

Twelve MPs filed a motion Wednesday seeking the Minister’s appearance in the House as President Mohamed Farmaajo starts the appointment of new envoys. So far the President has announced the appointment of ambassadors to the UN (Abukar Dahir Osman), Turkey (Jama Aidiid) and the UK (Abdirahman Aynte). The ambassadors must be approved by parliament before posting.

The MP have raised two issues regarding the law. One, they want the minister to explain the implementation of the law and secondly the timelines of the implementation. In particular, they  want directions on articles 1 (b) and 4. The former article notes that the appointment of ambassadors shall be based on a power sharing formula which for this case takes into consideration the clan distribution formula.

Article 4 on the other hand lists the requirements and qualifications for one to be appointed ambassador. For example one must have a recognised university degree and that political appointees must have stayed in the ministry of foreign affairs for at least tow months to gain experience. Ambassadors can only stay in one country for a period of four years, the law stipulates. The article also makes reference to article 3 which lists other qualification such knowledge of at least one foreign languages-French, English or Arabic.