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By Samson Haileyesus
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 6, 2010 – Jama Mohamoud Omar, former
chairman of Somaliland’s National electoral commission (NEC) has spoken
out against what he called the electoral process in Somaliland falling
into the hands of foreign institutions and is calling for the
international community as well as Somaliland’s neighbors to do all they
can towards helping Somaliland continue in its path towards
democratization.
Speaking on the causes that led to his Commission to leave office
Mohamoud Omar pointed towards the delay of eight months in the swearing
in of his commission had also hampered the smooth workings of NEC. He
also noted that Inter Peace, the company contracted to conduct voter
registration had problems in capacity and executive implementation and
had not monitored the work properly prompting delays. He also noted that
the various agendas by political parties in Somaliland had also proven
counter productive.
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“Theirs [the international community] was a very generous support
without them it would have been a dream to conduct a voter registration
but they invested the money in the wrong hands Inter Peace were not the
right organization due to capacity and executive implementation and they
have not monitored the work there was no evaluation there was no
monitoring… We appealed a number of times saying that the work is not
going as expected then they said we know things are going on the right
track then they put preconditions”, said Mohamoud Omar.
“The government should take the responsibility into looking at the
election budget in the future. Nothing in foreign hands can help
Somaliland”, warned Mohamoud Omar.
“I have been running as a chairman of the electoral committee I have
been running it as a neutral body many people maybe were not pleased but
history will tell what went wrong, whether I was right but still I am
encouraging that all stakeholders should work hard on Somaliland
elections. Elections are the only way for Somaliland”, said Mohamoud
Omar.
Mohamoud Omar and the commission’s members left office in October 2009
following a consensus reached between the various political parties
ending months of feuding.
In 1991, after the collapse of the central government in Somalia,
Somaliland declared its independence on May 18, 1991. Somaliland has
formed a hybrid system of governance under the Constitution of
Somaliland, combining traditional and western institutions. In a series
of inter-clan conferences, culminating in the Borama Conference in 1993,
community system of government was constructed, which consisted of an
Executive, with a President, Vice President, and Council of Ministers, a
bicameral Legislature, and an independent judiciary. The Guurti, the
traditional Somali council of elders was incorporated into the
governance structure and formed the upper house.
Somaliland has three political parties: UDUB Party, Kulmiye Party and
UCID party.
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