Mogadishu (UM) – The Motion of No Confidence against Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawaari has been accelerated and MPs in favour of the government seek to vote him out today. Until the early hours of this morning anti-Jawaari MPs, including, some Ministers were in meetings strategizing. In another location, Jawaari supporting MPs were also planning their counterattack. However, Somali politics is as unpredictable as that of any other nation. It also has the potential to be explosive if misunderstandings occur. So both sides must act responsibly and conduct themselves with dignity. They need no reminding that they represent the Somali people.
Whatever the outcome of this vote, if it happens at all, it must be noted that the Somali people have thus far not been impressed. Their main concern is how do they get their lives back on track after all the disruptions and delays? How do they get back the business they lost because of roadblocks? How do they trust Motion obsessed greedy MPs who need no encouragement to destabilise their people’s future?
For Somalia and its long suffering people to move forward, this political stalemate must end. There is no point in a truce as UM made clear in a recent editorial: it is either the Speaker or Prime Minister. A loveless forced marriage will not survive.
If the vote falls in favour of one side, urgent actions need to be taken by the President and Parliament to help stabilise the situation. We cannot have chairs flying across the room or half of Parliament relocating to another city to establish their own administration. These are lessons of history that should not be taken lightly. These are lessons that must not be repeated either.