Issue 281

On June 2, 2007, the Somaliland House of Representatives convened to vote on the seven individuals appointed for the National Election Commission (NEC). According to press accounts, the House Sub-Committee for Internal Affairs, which had been entrusted to examine the credentials of the appointees against the official requirement for the job, recommended that three individuals did not fulfill the qualification required for the job; ostensibly their ages were determined to have exceeded the maximum age specified in the official job bulletin. The Sub-Committee recommended the other four to be confirmed by the full House. The three with question marks on their names from the sub-Committee report are:

1) Muse Ahmed Omar (Awdal)

2) Mohamed YusufAhmed (Hargeisa)

3) MohamoudAbdi Hamud ( Sanag)

The Sub-Committee impersonally applied the official job requirement against the background of the appointees. This is the way the bureaucracy is supposed to work. But when the full House took the vote, the two gentlemen from Awdal and Sanag were rejected and the gentleman from Hargeisa, in addition to the other four, was confirmed.

The House did the right thing to have confirmed Mohamed Yusuf Ahmed of Hargeisa even though the subcommittee raised question about his age. He is highly qualified for the job. He was well educated in Ethiopia, acted as secretary to the Somali elected Parliament in the 1960s and later held high ranking positions for many years. According to a knowledgeable source, he is a man of high moral standing. There is no question that he will take into that job experience, knowledge and impartiality. President Rayale made the right decision when he selected him for the NEC. The House made the right decision when they disregarded the age factor and confirmed him.

But the other two nominees must also be confirmed for the job. Both of them are highly qualified, well educated, are men of good character and will demonstrate impartially and be asset at the NEC. Somaliland leaders should not use the age factor in screening out candidates for jobs. The government does not provide benefits to the elderly and government-sanctioned denial of jobs to people over 60 years of age is tantamount to a death sentence by the government to the elderly. This discrimination against senior citizens is unconscionable, is very bad public policy and should be wiped out from the books. There should not be age restrictions for candidates for the presidency, parliament, the NEC and for all other jobs.

The only press accounts after the vote were about Hon Ali Obsiye (Ali Gabiley), who reportedly made angry statements denouncing the vote. It seems to me that making Ali Gabiley the story is a diversion from what really happened that day at the House of Representatives. Those of us who check the Somaliland media often are accustomed to reading incendiary remarks from politicians. What the media should have focused on is why did these two nominees were rejected? Seven to Eight members of the House who voted YES for Mohamed Yusuf Ahmed switched their votes to NO when the roll call came on Muse Ahmed Omar and MohamoudAbdi Hamud. The responsibility of the media is to report who those MPs are, what their explanations are for voting up once and down twice on three candidates who are basically in the same situation.

It must be made clear that neither the House leadership nor a large number of its MPs were involved in rejecting those two nominees. It was only seven to eight members who brought this disrepute to the House. The House leadership has a responsibility in restoring the reputation of their institution. They must find a way to do that.

Muse Ahmed Omar and MohamoudAbdi Hamud were nominated by the Upper House. Having been by the Upper House is not sufficient reason to deny them the job. There is no other reason why they were turned down. The House must do the right thing, take another vote and make sure that they are confirmed.

Email: ahiman2@aol.com

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