The East African region will be keenly watching the build-up to the August Jubaland presidential election, as leaders assess its impact on the region’s stability.
The competition for Somalia’s richest State – both agriculturally and economically – will not only be determined by the incumbent’s stronghold but by the new entrants’ promises to the electorate, who have tasted the benefits of some semblance of order.
Those who have declared interest in the race have all been critical to Madobe’s administration. Among them is former Somalia Information minister Abdullahi Ciilmooge Hirsi – Madobe’s relative and close ally Sheikh Dahir.
Reliable sources indicate that the West world and some East African counties favour Abdirazak Fartaag (pictured), an anti-corruption crusader. His father was among the first and longest-serving senators in Somalia (1956-1969). Fartaag plans to introduce accountability in Jubaland’s administration. He has worked in different capacities, including consulting for African governments, as well as for the private sector and Non-Governmental Organisations.
While Madobe is touted to have improved security in Kismayo and adjacent areas, consequently bolstering trade in the port city, his administration has been accused of abetting corruption. Madobe’s Ogaden clan is also accused of marginalising others and seizing all resources.
Early this month Madobe, who has resisted the Somalia Federal Republic’s control, visited President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, who has been an adversary, to seek support for his second term bid. He has also been meeting Somali leaders at home and in Kenya’s Garissa region.
Madobe is said to have picked a seven-man election commission that is scheduled to announce the candidates and registration process, the election dates and venue of the election.
However, it is mostly illiterate clan elders organised in clan affiliation that elect delegates who then elect MPs.
It is the MPs that then elect the state president through secret ballot. Eye of the Western world and now East Africa, Fartaag comes from a Somalia political family that hails from the Marehan clan.
“Fartaag catches the eye of the international community mainly as a result of his resilience in the fight against corruption, democracy and bad governance, which he has consistently done through whistle blowing and publishing of reports on the vices being experienced in Jubaland,” said a source who sought anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the Press.
“Kenyan authorities on the other hand are looking into Fartaag mainly because of his anti-corruption stance, a move they themselves (Kenyans) have passionately embraced of late”.
Between 2009 and 2011, he served as the Head of the Public Finance Management Unit (PFMU-Somalia) under the direct authority of two prime ministers of the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia.