Hiiraan Online

It has not even been 2 weeks after the supposedly resolved conflict, in Kampala, between top Somali leaders, when a brand new erupts.

How long is one political bickering after another, instigated by one speaker Sharif Hassan, going to continue on the lifeless country and people of Somalia? What the heck is this?

The self-appointed viceroy, Sharif Hassan, on whose palms rest all Somali politics, is at it again.

Past customary responses to inter-conflicts of Somali leaders, of blaming them equally, will no longer suffice. Unless the underlining cause of any problem is not identified and rooted out, the solution is usually one of bandage.

By now, it should be clear to all that the Kampala Accord, heralded as the best solution of a difficult problem, was nothing but a temporary dressing on a political wound. The political wound is there because of a deadly, to the people and the country, political infection. This infection of mischief-making and selfish opportunism in current Somali politics, I am afraid, is Sharif Hassan, the Speaker of the Somali Parliament.

For a one man, this Sharif Hassan has too much negative power in a country on its existential death-bed. He is the clear obstacle and obstruction source in Somalia’s recovery.

Sharif Hassan opposed the nomination of premier Farmajo then; when he did not succeed in derailing that nomination, his next negative attempt was on the nominations of Farmajo’s cabinet. He was Negative on that attempt again. Then, Sharif Hassan targeted, using the Somali Transitional Federal Institutions’ end of mandate, the whole government. Finally, Sharif Hassan got to get rid of Farmajo as a consolation price.

One would think Sharif Hassan will then take a break for a little while! No, Sharif Hassan will be Sharif Hassan, always true to his ways. Now he is at it again. On this past Monday, President Sheikh Sharif summoned the speaker to Villa Somalia on the nomination of the new prime minster. It was reported by eye-witnesses at the presidential building that the speaker stormed out of that meeting with anger showing all over his face.

I am asking: Is Sharif Hassan the president of Somalia? What is the source of Sharif Hassan’s one man absolute power?

There is one thing I am sure of, and I am not alone on this, that the fate of Somalia and its people cannot afford the shenanigans of one man or two or a small group. Unless the problem of the Speaker of the Somali Parliament is addressed effectively, constant political-sparring of Somalia’s top leadership is a fixture there in Mogadishu.