Somalia’s leaders were still gathering in Dhusamareb, the now-iconic town of the country’s political decisions, even as the clock ticked on President Mohamed Farmaajo’s time.
And by Thursday night, there was still no guarantee the country would hold elections before February 8, the definitive date when Farmaajo’s term should end. The donors led by the UN insisted both the Federal Government and Federal Member states ought to agree to resolve their differences and “carry out on-time elections with no partial or alternate processes.”
Despite the pressure and horse-trading, there two things were coming out of the meeting on Thursday. One was that there will be no election before February 8. The second is that Somalis must now live with the reality of a transitional period and decide how to manage the gap between this administration and the one coming in after the elections are held.
A number of stakeholders had already expressed their views. There are those who suggested that elections be held partially where venues and groups that feel ready to vote be allowed to do so as arrangements are made for the others. That proved controversial and the opposition group; the Council of Presidential Candidates rejected the proposal; by Somalia’s Prime Minister Hussein Roble.
Mr Roble may have been trying what is known as variable geometry where parties sign up to a policy or agreement gradually, allowing the ready ones to move on while others step up. In Somalia, however, that proposal risked dividing the country further. For a nation trying to rebuild everything including its unity from years of war, what criteria would be used to decide what is ready and what is not? As it is, the entire Somalia seems unready but some of the reasons for that appear to be more political than absence of capacity.
Take for example the continual tiff between Jubbaland and the Federal Government over the deployment of troops to Gedo and the general administration of the region. Jubbaland President has said that Gedo, as one of the venues for the planned elections needs its security managed by the local forces, just as other urban areas identified in the electoral model of September 17.
Yet the haggling that has continued for months, leading to a threat of boycotting elections remains unresolved. That means that for refusing to compromise, the federal government has risked appearing like an entity keen on interference rather than collaborated management of the country.
That doesn’t mean parallel elections as warned by some opposition groups are any better. Elections are not valid just because a side agrees to them. They become acceptable because parties contesting in them see a level playing field and winners and losers can be verified with ease.
From the look of things, both a level playing field and a verifiable mode are absent. Parties, especially Puntland and Jubbaland states as well as opposition groups have been up in arms against the composition of the Federal Electoral Implementation Teams (FEITs) who they consider biased.
Dhusamareb meeting could change the composition but that won’t mean elections can now happen. The teams, including those Jubbaland and Puntland had agreed to nominate to their local commissions, will need training to make them suitable for the jobs.
To train, deploy and protect the vote is going to be the entire resolve of anyone willing to take part in these polls. But a timeline for that is going to extend beyond Farmaajo’s tenure. We understand the Provisional Constitutional says the President leaves office on the day the next one is sworn in. But Somalia remains an unfinished item and fears are that the extension must be timed to ensure no one abuses power to extend their stay without elections. This is why Somalis, and donors and other partners must think of transitional arrangements to ensure there are timelines within which Somalia must hold a free and fair election.
