We are waiting for high court clearance, says MP on impeachment motion

The impeachment motion against the president is set for debate once the high court clears it to proceed to parliament even as the president dismissed it as a waste of time, a law maker has said.

Abdullahi Jama’a Hussein, one of the parliamentarians who lodged the motion at the high court has told Goobjoog News they are awaiting directions from the high court as a procedure before the motion is debated in the House.

“The country has no constitutional court so in the absence of that the Provisional  Constitution gives us the option of filing the motion at the high court and it is that court which estabalishes the legality of the motion,” Abdullahi said.

Minimum threshold

More than one third of Somali Federal Parliament MPs last Thursday submitted an impeachment motion against president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud citing gross violation of the constitution and failure to realise a universal vote next year among a number of concerns.

Procedurally, article 92 of the Provisional Constitution bestows upon the Federal Parliament as now constituted to propose the dismissal of the president if he/she is accused of treason, or gross violation of the Constitution or the laws of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

The president last week dismissed calls for his resignation as a waste of time noting that there was a lot of work to be done instead of engaging in what he termed as political witch hunt.

Two-thirds majority

If approved by the high court, the speaker of Parliament Mohamed Osman Jawari will present the motion to parliament for debate. Article 92 (3) of the Provisional Constitution 2012 provides thus: 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.

Since the Upper House (Senate) is not in place yet as contemplated in the Provisional Constitution, at least 183 out of 275 members of the current parliament will be required to vote in favour of the motion for the president to dismissed.