Wednesday February 22, 2017
President Uhuru Kenyatta has arrived in Mogadishu for the inauguration of new Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.
President Kenyatta’s impromptu trip was announced at midday on Wednesday by State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu on Twitter.
The Somali capital is under a security lockdown ahead of the president’s inauguration.
LOCKDOWN
Schools, businesses and all roads were closed and commercial flights suspended, with only vehicles carrying security agents and dignitaries attending the swearing in ceremony allowed to move.
The inauguration is taking place at a heavily guarded airport zone for fear of Al-Shabaab attacks.
A fortnight ago, the capital was in another security lockdown as Somali lawmakers gathered at an airport hangar to elect the new president.
Mr Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, won the election.
AMISOM
Regional heads of state and government, especially from troops-contributing countries under the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), are also in attendance.
Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn were among the first to arrive in Mogadishu on Wednesday.
Delegations from Kuwait and Egypt have also arrived.
Mr Farmojo's win was greeted with euphoria in almost all the neighbourhoods of the Somali capital on January 15.
OPPONENTS
Mr Mohamed attained 184 votes while his two top opponents, the incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and predecessor Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, garnered a combined 119 votes in the February 8 contest.
Mr Mohamoud conceded defeat by taking up the microphone and telling the joint session of the Lower and Upper houses about his decision not to run for a third round.
His decision prompted a rapturous applause, paving the way for Mr Mohamed to be declared president.
Immediately, there were celebrations punctuated with gunfire outside the hall in Afasyoni, a complex next to Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport, where the election took place.
STRONG BOND
As peace gesture, Mr Mohamed hosted his defeated rivals at the Jazeera Hotel, the coalition of presidential candidates, made up of 20 opposition contenders for the seat.
The president was advised to shun tribalism and avoid surrounding himself with a few individuals, but instead form a government that could lift the Somali people out of their predicament.
Many were the pledges Mr Mohamed made during the campaigns and in his address to the legislators prior to the presidential election.
He promised to establish strong bonds between the citizens and the government to enable the former participate in the stabilisation of the country through tax payments.
CLAN POWER
The president’s first major assignment will be the nomination of a prime minister.
In so doing, he will have to adhere to a complex clan power sharing plan known as the 4.5 formula.
Once the PM is approved by parliament, he or she will have to form a Cabinet and present a programme to be endorsed by parliament.
Mr Mohamed told the legislators: “My government will implement my ‘Nabad iyo Nolol’ (Peace and Life) programme.