MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – The proposed impeachment against Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has failed to secure the required quorum.
Somali lawmakers two days ago filed the motion against the president, accusing him of abuse of office and signing secret deals with Ethiopia and Eritrea.
In a letter addressed to Lower House Speaker, General Secretary of Lower House, Abdihakim Abidi Buh said the proposition could not take place as it failed to gather enough support to move to the next stage.
According to Buh, the impeachment motion become flop after 14 members of Somalia’s federal parliament denied being part of the signatories of the motion and protested to the clerk through writing that they were illegally added without their consent.
“14 MPs have protested that they were part of the signatories of this motion leading to drop the number of the motion proposers. 72 MP could not reach the required number of MPs to table motion as per article 92 (2) of the provisional constitution of Somalia,” said Buh in the letter.
The article 92 (2) of the constitution articulates: “The motion for dismissing the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia may be introduced by no less than one-third (1/3) of the total membership of the House of the People of the Federal Parliament, and may be presented to the Constitutional Court, which shall preside over the case to see whether it has legal grounds.”
On Sunday, Parliament speaker Mohamed Mursal agreed late to accept the motion said to have signed by 92 out of 275 legislators.
A copy of the motion, seen by media, lists as grounds for the impeachment an allegation that the president secretly signed agreements with other countries including Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The agreements touched on the use of Somali ports and economic and security cooperation, it said.
The motion was filed a month after Farmaajo met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki for talks on cementing economic ties between their once-rival nations.
Constitutionally, 92 lawmakers have to sign such a motion for it to be submitted to the speaker.
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