President, Cabinet rubbish dismissal motion

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has lashed out at members of parliament who have sought to impeach him imploring upon them to shelve their personal interests for the sake of the country.

In a statement Thursday evening, the president expressed his dismay for what he termed as deception by certain politicians bent on derailing progress in Somalia.

“Somalia has moved forward and progress cannot be halted just because of obstacles or deceptions by elements who are not working for the interest of the public and the greater Somali nation,” the president said.

At least 100 MPs yesterday issued a joint statement noting that they had submitted a motion to the speaker of the Federal Parliament with the object of relieving the president of his duties for what they said is a derogation of duty and violation of the constitution by the president.

In the seven point statement, the lawmakers accused the president of among others signing oil contracts without parliamentary consent, permitting trial of civilians in martial courts and intentionally derailing efforts for a universal vote in 2016.

Political maneuvers

But the President has rubbished the claims saying that the country was not ready for any political maneuvers as there was more for the country’s leaders to engage in towards state building.

“This is not the right time to create political spat because of the ongoing important tasks for the country,” added President Mohamud.

The cabinet has also come in defence of the president lamenting the decision by the lawmakers to submit the motion.

“The cabinet has expressed deep concern over the country’s future prospect after Somali Federal MPs submitted a no confidence motion against Somali president to Somali Federal parliament leadership, ” said a statement from the cabinet.

The Cabinet appealed to the MPs to reconsider their position warning that the motion was a threat to the country’s stability.

Constitutional Provisions

Article 92 of the Provisional Constitution 2012 accords the House of the People of the Federal Parliament, for this case, Federal Parliament as now constituted to propose the dismissal of the president if he is accused of treason, or gross violation of the Constitution or the laws of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Article 92 (2) in particular reads: The motion for dismissing the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia may be introduced by no less than one-third (1/3) of the total membership of the House of the People of the Federal Parliament, and may be presented to the Constitutional Court, which shall preside over the case to see whether it has legal grounds.

If the Constitutional Court determines that the case has legal grounds, the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia may be dismissed by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the total membership of the two Houses of the Federal Parliament.

In the event of a dismissal, the speaker of Parliament will assume the presidency for a period of 30 days within which elections for a new president must be held as contemplated in Article 95 (1).