Somali Prime Minister Voted Out of Office

Bolanle Akanji

Moderator
Somali Members of Parliament have voted the country's prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon, out of office following a disagreement between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Shirdon.

Mohamed Osman Jawari, speaker of the Somali parliament, said on Monday that 184 Members out of 250 present voted for the impeachment motion.

Shirdon will remain in office until Mohamud nominates a new prime minister, who will then have 30 days to appoint a new cabinet, Jawari said. (Al jazeera)

Some time before the result of the vote was announced, Shirdon said in Mogadishu, "Some ministers in the cabinet are behind the current political instability. They think the prime minister could be easily ousted so they could keep their positions."

The disagreement arose when Shirdon refused to accept Mohamud's choices into his cabinet, which was scheduled to be reshuffled.

According to the UN representative to Somalia, Nicholas kay, the overthrow of the prime minister by vote signifies the "coming of age" of Somalia's institutions.

"The UN is here to support their development, and looks forward to working constructively with the new administration. Outgoing Prime Minister Shirdon had worked hard to promote growth and progress and played an important part in creating the New Deal Compact between international partners and Somalia," he said.

This will not be the first time a PM has been voted out of office. Previous Somali governments have been plagued by disagreement between presidents and prime ministers and Shirdon is the fifth prime minister in six years Somalia has had.
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