SOMALIA: PM Sharmarke sacks two prominent female ministers

Hussein Farah

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Ms.Khadra Ali Bashir, the Minister of Education and Ms. Hawo Mohamed Hassan, the Minister of Health, will be replaced by two well known politicians who are currently Members of Parliament.
On Friday, a statement released by the office of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said that the president approved the PM’s decision to replace the two ministers.
PM Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke appointed Dr. Abdulkadir Abdi Hashi for the Ministry of Education. Dr.Hashi hails from Puntland, he is from the same clan of the sacked minister.
Mohamed Haji AbdiNur, who is also currently a Member of Parliament, is the new minister of Health.
The two sacked women ministers were both very active and well known faces of the current cabinet. One woman minister now remains in the federal cabinet.
This change is likely related to the elections of 2016; the two newly appointed ministers who are MP’s are both battling for their seats in the House of Representatives.

President Hassan Sheikh who is running for a second term and PM Sharmarke who might also join the race are both maneuvering to have much influence in the selection process of the new parliament.
The Parliament will elect the next President.
Since Somalia declared last year that the one-man, one-vote system was not achievable due to various factors including insecurity, the leaders chose an alternative modalities to select a 54-member Upper House and a 275-member Lower House.
In April, Somali leaders agreed on an electoral process for a parliament composed of the Upper and a Lower house (House of Representatives).
The members of the Lower House will be picked through a clan-power sharing known as the 4.5 Formula, giving the four major groups equal share, while a coalition of smaller ones will share half the allocation.
Somali female politicians are still facing an uphill battle to become Members of Parliament, as many clan leaders favor to select male candidates.
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