One year old government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud which has spear headed the country out from the transition period is now battling silent political war with in.

The president is facing a state of dilemma while his being pressurized to sack his own appointed prime minister by the same members of parliament that approved his appointment citing the prime minister’s incompetence for last one year in office.

President Sheikh Mohamud is currently finding himself in a situation where by he is innocently pressed between two hard rocks.

On one side quite number of Somali parliament members particularly those from the same tribe (Darood) as of the PM are pushing the president to show the door the Prime Minister Mr. Abdi Farah Shirdon and replace him with one of their own with the immediate effect.

The largely corrupt members of the national assembly have succeeded to push for their ill-advised selfish political interest by toppling the PM by use of vote of no confidence in the parliament.

On the other hand the president seems to be safeguarding own political ambitions beyond the 2013 as well as the image of the country in the international community before making any vital move to think about the replacement of his long term friend Mr. Abdi Farah Shirdon.

It is very clear to the president that the international community will not condone traditional tribal based political game that has mitigated the civil strife in the beginning of the 1991 and therefore the international community is inaudibly monitoring the move and any suspicious decision will no doubt result into suspension of donor funding to punish his weak recently recognized administration.

The Conspiracy of the 4.5 formula.

The famous 4.5 formula which translates to the four big tribes namely Darood, Dir, hawiye, mirifle and the other minority groups sharing power in Somalia was meant to bring political solution to the conflict that has ravaged the horn of African nation for last two decades.

However as Somalia moves from one step to another as far as the political transition is concerned the 4.5 formula seems to be inapplicable.

Majority of Somali members of parliament have strong tribal influence and safeguard the interest of their respective tribes rather than collective national interest agenda so as to take out the country out of the difficult defining moment of war.

This means that they can do everything possible to defend the interest of their tribes in the government.

For instance the main reason which has made the Prime Minister Mr. Shirdon unpopular was that the moment he got into the office he viewed himself as a national leader and not a representative of a particularly people or tribe this has not sounded well with members from his Darod tribe and that is why we have seen several campaign for his downfall through vote of no confidence in the parliament.

What we have seen since the inceptions of the new Somali government which I hope history will judge is that Somali politics cannot do without tribal influenced decisions which according to my view is not healthy to the future of the country.

For peaceful, developed and prosperous Somalia to be achieved the politicians should forget about the power of tribalism and think about the supremacy of unity for the sake of national reconciliationregardless of ethnic background.

Mohamed Kahiye

Nairobi_Kenya

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