Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Robley rejected, on Thursday, the decision to reduce his powers from the country’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, considering the move “contrary to the constitution.”
This came in a statement published by Robley on Facebook, in response to a presidential decree issued by Farmajo, Thursday, according to which he decided to reduce his powers of appointment and dismissal, until the end of the parliamentary and presidential elections in the country.
Robley considered Farmajo’s decision “a step that violates the constitution and contradicts Articles 87 and 90 of the country’s interim constitution, which do not provide for the president’s authority to interfere with the powers of the prime minister.”
According to the statement, Farmajo “ignored Articles 99 and 100, which stipulate the prime minister’s authority, both in appointing and dismissing his government ministers and senior leaders of the security services.”
And he added, “The president also ignored Article 91 of the interim constitution, which stipulates the constitutional term of the president ending on February 8, trying to interfere with the constitutional powers of the government in order to create chaos and instability.”
The prime minister ordered “all state institutions to continue their work to serve citizens in accordance with Articles 99, 100 and 103 of the interim constitution.”
He also ordered the electoral committees to expedite their efforts to complete the holding of parliamentary elections in the People’s Assembly and Senate, according to the official election schedule.
Robley called on the Somali people and the international community to support his government by completing the elections, stressing that it is the only way to save the country from returning to its first square.
About a month ago, disputes escalated between President Farmajo and his prime minister over the disappearance of a Somali intelligence officer, which led to the latter’s dismissal of the country’s intelligence chief, Fahd Yassin, and the appointment of Mohamed Bashir Jameh as his successor, which Farmajo opposed, considering the move outside the prime minister’s powers.
The country is witnessing parliamentary elections that began on July 25 and are expected to continue until late November, while the date of the presidential elections has not yet been set due to differences.
