The Somalia House of Representatives enacts two crucial bills

The Somali house of people passes on Monday the NISA bill.

148 MPs voted for the bill, 3 opposed, and one MP abstained from voting. Also, the members passed today’s electricity bill drafted by the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources.

The NISA bill ratified today by the Lower House is a long-awaited bill. Somalia’s intelligence agency has operated without a legal base since its reestablishment in 2013.

NISA incumbent commander Mahad Mohamed Salad welcomed the bill’s approval and requested the senate that the legislation is vital to the agency’s operation and war against Al-Shabaab.

Academics and human rights activists accuse NISA of normalizing extrajudicial activity to advance political agendas and silence detractors.

The autocratic tyranny of the former military dictatorship by the historically traumatic Somali intelligence agency has left it with an infamous reputation that still exists and significantly impacts how the intelligence agency conducts its business.