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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 11,
2009 – The Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Jama
Mohamed Omar (famously known as Jama-Sweden) has expressed serious
concern over what he described as the unfortunate state of affairs over
the “foreign hands” managing Somaliland’s upcoming election.
Jama-Sweden made the remarks at a hearing held before members of the
Upper House of Somaliland’s Parliament, known as Guurti, during a
question and answer session after testimony. During this period, much of
the questioning focused on whether the presidential election scheduled
for 27 September will take place and whether a complete voter
registration list will be produced in good time as accurate and accepted
voter registry is pivotal to a credible electoral process.
The chairman of the Upper House, Saleban Mohamoud Aden, asked the
commissioners ‘whether there are any obstacles that might pose potential
problems to the election schedule’.
Jama-Sweden reassured members of the House that the presidential
election will go ahead and will be held as scheduled. He mentioned that
there were some technical and administrative hitches but these had now
been resolved and the three parties had finalized and signed the Code of
Conduct.
Jama-Sweden said: “Somaliland has attained this level of achievement
without relying much on foreign assistance but the greatest tragedy is
when the management of your election is placed in the hands of your
donors and you have no power over it.
“However, I do strongly believe that from now onwards Somaliland will
not place the management of its elections in foreign hands and that the
Somaliland people will rely on themselves and their meager resources
rather than waiting for assistance from donors,” he added.
The vice-chairman of the NEC, Ali Hassan Abdalla, also took a similar
line. He said the commission would not wait for the voter registration
list if the donor countries and Interpeace (the agency responsible for
processing voter registration list) fail to produce the list by 27 July
deadline.
The chairman and his deputy both pointed out that the final decision on
the voter registration list rests with the donor countries and
Interpeace agency.
It was not immediately clear why Jama-Sweden lashed out at the donor
countries, when there is a simmering feud within his agency that
paralyzed the work of the commission.
Jama-Sweden was accused to have deliberately “engineered” to expel two
commissioners from the agency, which poisoned the atmosphere of teamwork
between members of the commission. President Rayale rejected his request
to expel one of the commissioners, Mohamed Yusuf, on medical grounds,
which was found to be misleading. However, Rayale approved the expulsion
of the other commissioner and the parliament subsequently approved it.
Asked whether the presidential election will take place if the voter
registration list is not ready by17 July deadline, Jama-Sweden said the
election would go ahead without the voters’ list. However, he added if
the donors failed to pay the election expenses, then the responsibility
would be entirely on the government.
The commissioners failed to illuminate further several important points
and declined to answer many questions including where does Interpeace
fit the Electoral Law of the country? Is it true that the commission
relinquished its powers to Interpeace agency and donor countries? How
can the commissioners be impartial when they are so openly divided along
party lines?
Source: Somaliland Globe
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