December 6, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Lower House Polls For Somaliland Finally Kick Off In Mogadishu
06 December- Source: Goobjoog News – 210 Words
Delegates from Somaliland will today cast their vote for the Lower House members following a series of delays and contests the latest being on the venue as a section of the political class pushed for the exercise to be conducted at the UN base in Halane. The electoral body FIEIT confirmed Monday voting will take place at the Police Transport Headquarters (Xeradka Gadiidka) in Mogadishu with the first seven MPs expected to be elected among them deputy prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arte. All sub-clans in Somaliland combined are allocated 46 seats in the Lower House while the state is entitled to 11 seats in the Upper House. Lower House elections are based on the 4.5 clans system while senatorial elections are distributed along the federal member state system. Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke Monday pressed for the elections to be held at Halane which hosts the UN and Amisom bases in Mogadishu over what he termed as concerns by Somaliland elders of a compromised poll should it be held outside UN quarters. A total of 357 are expected to participate in today’s exercise with each MP being elected by 51 delegates. In total, 2,346 delegates voting for all the 46 MPs will take part in the exercise.
Key Headlines
- Lower House Polls For Somaliland Finally Kick Off In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- There Are Obstacles In The Ongoing Election: President (Shabelle News)
- Southwest Concluded Lower House Elections (Garowe Online)
- Religious Scholars Condemn Recent Killing Of A Cleric In Mogadishu (Halgan.net)
- African Union Seeks Speedy Determination Of Compensation Cases From Troop And Police Contributing Countries To AMISOM (AMISOM)
- University Students Exchange Views On Somalia’s 2016 Electoral Process (UNSOM)
NATIONAL MEDIA
There Are Obstacles In The Ongoing Election: President
06 December- Source: Shabelle News – 116 Words
The incumbent president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said his country has learnt lessons from the obstacles that surrounded the country’s ongoing parliamentary elections. As the nation is prepared to hold a much awaited presidential election in mid December, the caretaker president said people made many sacrifices to realize their country’s recovery process.“The indirect elections in the country are new to the people, so that there must be challenges and standoff during this transitional period,” said Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The president who is a presidential candidate and seeking a re-election has paid a visit to Kismayo, the regional capital of Lower Jubba province, where he met on Monday with the newly elected Upper and Lower House MPs.
Southwest Concluded Lower House Elections
06 December – Source: Garowe Online- 174 Words
Southwest state became the second federal member state in Somalia to complete voting for parliamentary seats in the upcoming Lower House chamber of Federal Parliament, Garowe Online reports. The voting for the last two seats out of total 69 seats allocated to Southwest state, witnessed the election of Hassan Moalin and Hussein Mohamud, both of whom are outgoing MPs of the Federal Parliament. Fourteen women legislators were elected in the Lower House elections in Southwest State, which started on 8 November in Baidoa town, the state’s interim capital.
The state has failed to meet 30-percent quota for women, which will reserve 21 seats for women candidates, according to the National Leadership Forum’s communiqué endorsed early this year. Last month, Jubbaland state wrapped up the Lower House election, and became the first state to complete the ballot for 43 lawmakers who will represent the state in the upcoming Lower House chamber.of Somalia’s Parliament. The federal electoral body announced delay to the Presidential election without assigning new date due to continuous delays of the parliamentary elections in the regional states.
Religious Scholars Condemn Recent Killing Of A Cleric In Mogadishu
05 December – Source: Halgan.net – 108 Words
Somali religious scholars united under the Al Bayaan umbrella in a press statement strongly condemned the recent killing of a local cleric in Mogadishu. Sheikh Said Ali Osman ‘Qalinle’ was gunned down in Mogadishu on Saturday by armed gangs who managed to escape after carrying out the killing.Al Bayan council called on the government to immediately bring into book the perpetrators of the killing, and stop the cycle of crimes against the key figures in the society.The council also extended condolences to the family and relatives of the slain Sheikh. Sheikh Qalinle was said to be an active member in the society, religious activist cum businessman.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
African Union Seeks Speedy Determination Of Compensation Cases From Troop And Police Contributing Countries To AMISOM
05 December – Source: AMISOM – 462 Words
The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Department and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are seeking ways of enhancing the management of compensation of personnel from Troop and Police Contributing countries to AMISOM. A four-day meeting to review the AU’s memorandum of understanding with countries which contribute military and police personnel to AMISOM, opened in Nairobi today to discuss bottlenecks hindering timely compensation for death and disability. Mr. Selidji Gbaguidi, the Head of the Peace Support Fund at the African Union Commission emphasized the need for effective internal control systems that will guarantee reliable data for personnel serving under the AU mission in Somalia. “It will help to have the accurate data and reliable data from our side and the TCC side to compensate those beneficiaries on time. We should also put in place really a sustainable system to avoid in future, the backlog,” Mr. Gbaguidi said.
He recommended the strengthening of the Board of Inquiry (BoI), which evaluates casualty cases for compensation in the event of death or injury. Mr. Adebayo Kareem, the AMISOM Acting Chief of Staff noted that AMISOM had ensured financial diligence and transparency in its operations. He attributed the efficiency to judicious input of the AU Peace Support Division (PSD). “And I am happy to note that over the last few years, the finance office at the PSD and AMISOM have been able to ensure that even if you have issues with the European Union, management of the finances is not one of those critical issues,” he explained. “We have handled the financial element of the funds they give us, in a very transparent manner.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Some students view the indirect 2016 electoral process as a vital first step on the country’s path to democracy. They are particularly encouraged by the number of young candidates who have won election to the House of the People,”
University Students Exchange Views On Somalia’s 2016 Electoral Process
05 December – Source: UNSOM – 441 Words
A group of second-year students are listening closely to the retired police general Jama Mohamed Ghalib as he delivers an hour-long lecture on Somalia’s turbulent political history in a classroom at Simad University. A prolific writer who rose to the position of interior minister during the regime of Gen. Siad Barre, Mr. Ghalib is comparing this year’s electoral process to the universal suffrage elections held in Somalia in the 1960s and the 2012 electoral process that chose the country’s ninth federal parliament.“In the 1960s, you’d go to a polling station and cast your vote where you wanted to go,” recalled the grey-haired senior university lecturer. “(Today) there is no possibility of one-man, one-vote because of the insecurity in the country. But they wanted something to be different from what it was in 2012. They wanted to make it appear to be progress, and maybe it is.”
None of his students was alive the last time Somalia held a one-person, one-vote election in 1969. And most were still teenagers when 135 traditional elders gathered in Mogadishu four years ago to elect 275 members of the federal parliament.Under this year’s complex indirect electoral model, none of these students will cast a ballot for the 329 seats at stake in both houses of Somalia’s parliament this year. Only members of the country’s regional assemblies and 14,025 electoral college delegates chosen by traditional clan elders are taking part in this year’s voting. But these young Somalis retain a keen interest in the 2016 electoral process and harbour high expectations for the legislators and president who will govern their country through 2020.“I am hoping the incoming President will give priority to peace-building efforts,” says political science student Adow Abdulahi Isack.“Secondly, he should work towards providing free education, especially primary and secondary schooling, to children from poor families.”
TOP TWEETS
@mohabulbul: BREAKING:Suspected #US drone strikes an ALSHABAB base in the outskirt of #Torotorow town in#lowershabelle region. Media reports #Somalia.
@HarunMaruf: UN envoy to #Somalia praises progress being made, urges leaders to support disputes body in addressing electoral abuses and malpractices.
@doorashada2016: Congratulations to SIEIT in South West State for concluding the elections of the House of the People in Baidoa. #Doorashada2016 #Somalia
@Daudoo: #IED explosion targets convoy of #Puntland security forces near #Galgala mountains in #Somalia‘s Bari region, Casualties unknown – Witness
@UKinSomalia: #Somali female surgeons fighting 2 save one mother at a time at Banadir Hospital despite lack resources@BBC100women
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali President inspect a guard of honor during his recent visit to kismayo
Photo: Radio Muqdisho