Somali Leaders

Somali Leaders Use National Funds To ‘Buy Mps': Sources

TFG President Yusuf, Speaker Madobe and PM Nur Adde
BAIDOA, Somalia Sep 24 , 2008 – Somali leaders locked in endless political disputes use public funds to pay members of parliament (MPs) for votes, legislative sources tell Somali news agency Garowe Online.
In July, a political rift arose between Abdillahi Yusuf and Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein, the President and Prime Minister of the country's UN-endorsed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), respectively.
Somali MPs in the south-central city of Baidoa were deeply embroiled in the conflict, with Yusuf and Nur Adde supporters introducing rival motions.
When the President's supporters in Parliament brought a vote-of-confidence motion against the Prime Minister, Nur Adde's supporters introduced a similar motion against the President.
Somali lawmakers' vote was “on sale” for other critical votes, the sources added, including an accountability motion with Prime Minister Nur Adde's government and a vote on whether or not pro-Yusuf Cabinet ministers could return to their posts.
MPs who did not wish to be named for security-related reasons tell Garowe Online that President Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Adde invested as much as US$700,000 to buy lawmakers' votes during the recent dispute.
The money is handed directly to Sheikh Adan “Madobe” Mohamed, a former warlord who is now the parliament Speaker, according to our sources.
“Every motion brought into parliament is being secretly supported by TFG leaders, who invest a lot of money to buy MPs,” said a lawmaker.
Meanwhile, President Yusuf referred Speaker Madobe's September 23 letter rejecting the return of 10 Cabinet ministers to the High Court, government sources said.
There are now concerns that a High Court ruling could bring up a confidence vote against the Speaker, who was an ally of President Yusuf until recently.
The East Africa country of Somalia has not had a functioning national government in nearly 18 years, but the Ethiopian-backed TFG has been in power since 2004.
The government collects taxes from key economic resources and is bankrolled by donor nations, mostly in the West.
But there is no reliable management of government funds, since the money is controlled by individuals and not institutions.