Somali PM, Speaker of Parliament Lose Confidence Vote

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 11, 2003

Somali PM, Speaker of Parliament Lose Confidence Vote

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Since President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan returned home 11 days ago from Nairobi, Somalia's parliament has held serious sessions in Mogadishu about the fate of the Somali conference in Kenya and the government officials still remaining there.

Following the debates, the parliamentarians of the Transitional National Assembly have Saturday started casting their votes of no confidence against the speaker of the National Assembly and the prime minister.

According to the secretariat of the assembly, there has been 127 members of the parliament in Saturday session, a number or the quorum required to make such a tough decision.

The votes of no confidence have first started against the speaker of the parliament who has officially defected politically from Abdiqasim Salad Hassan.

The speaker, Abdalla Derow Issak is still in Nairobi attending the Somali conference which his president had boycotted.

As a result of the votes cast, 117 members of the parliament have voted no confidence for Abdalla Derow Issak, one member has voted in favour of Issak and ten others have abstained.

Acting speaker of the house Mohamed Abdi Yussuf has announced that according to the law Issak has lost the confidence of the house and therefore has been officially deprived of his title as the speaker of Somalia's parliament.

As the MPs have applauded for the votes, the acting speaker of the parliament has again asked the MPs to continue the job and cast their votes for the government especially for Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah.

Out of the 127 members in the Saturday's session, 119 have voted no confidence against Hassan Abshir Farah, and only one member has voted in favour of Abshir while seven more have abstained and following the counting of the votes, acting speaker Mohamed Abdi Yussuf has announced that the government of Hassan Abshir Farah has officially lost the confidence of the parliament.

Moreover, President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, has also held a press conference Saturday evening in which he has officially deprived Hassan Abshir Farah from his title as the prime minister according to the law.

"I have accepted the proposal of the parliament and therefore have relieved him of the duty as the prime minister of Somalia," he said.

Even though these votes of no confidence have been cast Saturday, still many people argue about the legitimacy of such a move, because many of the MPs in the session were new ones who have only a few days back been sworn in as MPs to substitute those still attending the Somali conference in Kenya.

Abdalla Derow Issak whom the reporter spoke with on the line inNairobi has also denied the vote of no confidence against him in the parliament in Mogadishu, "more than 80 percent of the Somali MPs are here in Nairobi," he said, "normal people rounded up from around the streets and Bakara market can not become Somali MPs and can not make a decision for Somalia."

"This is a cheap game being played by Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, and I will continue representing the Somali government in the conference in Kenya," he added

These votes of no confidence against Somalia's prime minister and speaker of parliament comes at a time when there are only two more days remaining when officially the term of mandate for the Transitional National Government (TNG) ends which is on Aug. 12.

The TNG has been given the mandate for three years during the conference in Neighboring Djibouti three years ago in which the government was supposed to restore the rule of law back to Somalia and prepare a multiparty system for the election of a government, but has failed to extend its influence throughout the country.

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