Sheikh Islam Ahmed Madobe, the president of Jubbaland state of Somalia may on August 22 be waiting for the spinning coin to land in his favour when he faces other candidates for another term in office.
Previously planned for August 21, the poll for the state presidency was pushed back by a day when the Jubbaland Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission yielded to pressure from the international community on Friday to allow more candidates to register for the race. The UN and the African Union had been pressuring the JIEBC to make changes.
MORE CANDIDATES
JIEBC chairman Hamza Barre said more people interested in the presidency had 72 hour to present their papers, a decision that could raise the number of candidates from the current six. “The JIEBC has decided to officially re-open the registration of the aspirants…Starting August Saturday 17 to Monday 19.
The election date is August 22,” he wrote to James Swan, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Somalia who had led a delegation of AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to call for a more credible process. Swan had said issues surrounding who takes part “if unresolved, could have a destabilising effect on Jubbaland”.
SPEAKER
With that cleared, the commission conducted the election of the local Speaker, which saw Abdi Mohamed retain his seat after garnering 55 votes against Hussein Shinow’s 18. It means he will be in charge of the presidential vote.
Madobe was born in Somalia’s central region and was the leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, which routed Al-Shabaab from Kismayu with the help of Kenyan soldiers in 2012. Madobe’s education background is in Islamic philosophy.
AMISOM
He benefited from the support of the Kenya Defence Forces who re-hatted to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), occupying Sector II in Jubbaland.
The impasse has seen former presidents Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, former Galmudug state President Abdulkarim Gulled and current Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni support the poll agency.
With the elections though, the interests in Jubbaland have grown beyond Somalia. On Thursday, a group of academics said the impact of the poll would shake regional security policies.
“There are contestations from many players. Jubbaland is like the umbilical cord of Somalia and Kenya. It is very strategic,” said Patrick Maluki, a diplomacy lecturer at the University of Nairobi…….
Source: Daily Nation
About Author
