PM-appointed committee barred from traveling to Gedo region

Farmajo, who hails from the region is accused of being behind the standoff as he wants to hijack the 16 seats of the Lower House in Garbaharey.

News Keydmedia Online
7 March 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia - An official in the Gedo region on the Somalia-Kenya border says no plane carrying members of a committee from Mogadishu can touch down at Garbaharey city airport.

Speaking to the media on Monday, the deputy Garbaharey DC on security and politics said that any airline company that turns a deaf ear to their warning will bear ‘consequences’ of the negligence.

The move came after authorities in Gedo have accused the 7-member team led by Omar Dhagey, a senior advisor to PM Roble of partisan and lobbying for moving the election to Kismayo city.

We will prevent anything that goes against the September 17 election deal and people in Gedo are ready for the election in Garbaharey not in Kismayo,' said the deputy DC.

The committee was tasked to assess the situation on the ground if it is suitable to hold an election at the moment and report back to the PM. It early visited Kimsyao and held a meeting with Madobe.

The deadlock in the Gedo region between Villa Somalia and the President of Jubaland Ahmed Madobe became a stumbling block to the process of holding the election for 16 seats in Garbaharey.

The outgoing Somali president Farmajo, who hails from the region is accused of being behind the standoff as he wants to hijack the seats as he deployed NISA troops to the region last year. 

The endless disputes are the main factors of the continued delays in the parliamentary election that was expected to be concluded last year. This led the US to restrict visas for top Somali officials. 

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