Three years ago today, Mohamed Abdullahi farmaajo was elected as the 9th president of federal republic of Somalia. During these three years, Somalia has achieved a lot interms of political, financial and security aspects.
One of the most underrated achievement of president Farmaajo is the appointment of Mr. Hassan Ali Khaire as the prime minister of Somalia, it is not easy to get a prime minister who is not egotistic and is willing to set aside his personal ambitions and serve the country by implementing the policies of the president.
Each and every of presidents of the last four administrations in Villa Somalia has appointed at least three prime ministers, literally, every year a new prime minister. There was disagreements and political infighting within the executive brunch.
In the last three years, Somalia has seen political stability which was rare in the last 4 administrations. There was no disagreements or political infighting within the executive brunch.
The main reason we have stable political environment is that prime minister is enjoying the confidence of the president and implementing policies and initiatives freely without interference from the president’s office.
President Farmaajo has given Somali youth significant role in nation building, majority of the cabinet of prime minister Khaire are youth and middle aged man who are energetic and capable of getting the job done.
Most of Nabad iyo Nolol council of ministers has been there exactly three years, which gives them the time and ability to adapt and develop numerous ways of achieving the objectives of their stated tasks.
The most hardworking ministers are enjoying the freedom to hire their staff and exercise their duty in their own way with appropriate level of oversight from prime minister’s office.
The political stability is not only limited to executive brunch but also in the federal parliament where we have not seen a single successful motions of no confidence brought against the leaders of Somalia with the exception of the motion against Jawaari, the former speaker of Somali parliament.
Debt relief has been the number one priority for the government in the last three years, the Nabadand Nolol administration has agreed to implement financial sector reforms with a staff team from the IMF, including, the development of a central bank, broadening the tax base and strengthening tax administration.
These reforms have increased domestic revenue by considerably higher percentage which enabled the federal government to support a small expansion in spending on health and education.
The IMF board of directors has commended the authorities ‘strong commitment to implementing three consecutive staff (SMP) in a challenging environment, noting that Somalia’s gradual economic recovery reflected the authorities’ sustained policy and reform efforts, coupled with strong donor support.
So far, the federal government has achieved each and every initiative put forth by the IMF and that will make it possible for Somalia to qualify for partial or full debt relief in the first quarter of 2020.
In the last three years, the Fedaral government has reformed Somalia’s armed forces by launching a biometric registration program. As a result, 10,000 ghost soldiers were removed from the records.
The biometric identification system is also being used for direct bank payments to soldiers, cutting out the corrupt officers. Additionally, to reduce the spending, the SNA departments were reduced from 23 to 13.
Last year, Somali cabinet approved 70% pay raise for somali security forces as well as military. This has raised the morale of Somali army and improved their operational readiness for the first time in decades.
The constitution review process is expected to be completed in June this year. Accountable constitutional review process through strengthening inclusive political processes at all levels is an important milestone for Somalia.
It will be followed by a popular referendum to ratify it, the one thing that made it possible for constitution review process to be completed within short time, thanks to the removal of Jawaari, the biggest obstacle to the completion of this process.
One of the outstanding achievement of president Farmaajo will be the implementation of one man one vote initiative, the laws are in place and the National Independent Election commission is conducting staff training and seminars to boost the professional capacity of the NIEC staff.
The only thing remaining is to build consensus on the implementation of one man one vote initiative across the country. Many people are sceptical about the feasibility of this initiative. It will not be that hard to prove them wrong.
In the last three years, we have seen fundamental changes in ways of doing things in Somalia, federal government is increasingly becoming effective and efficient.
Nevertheless, under Farmaajo, things are changing for better and many people, mostly unelected political actors are finding it difficult to accept the changing paradigm in Somalia. They want to the status quo to continue.
