Jubbaland authorities on Tuesday arrested a federal member of Parliament who had been lobbying for the ousting of the region’s cabinet of ministers.
Ahmed Abdi Hassan had held a Press Conference in Kismayu to react on the move by a parliamentary committee to strip off his immunity before security agents arrested him at his home.
The legislator is accused of giving false information and instigating unrest in his bid to table a vote of no confidence against the Jubbaland cabinet.
Hassan accused the cabinet of incompetence.
“I called for this press conference to issue a statement on a written letter from the Jubaland’s state parliament explaining withdrawal of my immunity. The allegations of the Ethics Commission are false and no one was consulted over it” Hassan told reporters before his arrest.
He termed the move by the Parliamentary committee unconstitutional.
“According to the Jubaland constitution, an MP can lose immunity through death, approved resignation, committing a crime whose punishment is more than five years, failure to attend two consecutive parliamentary sessions without genuine reasons and breach of the Islamic law and that of the Jubaland parliament’s Standing Orders,” added the MP.
Regional President Ahmed Madhobe appointed the current cabinet in 2016.
Hassan needed at least 50 Mps to oust the cabinet and according to an Mp in Jubbaland he had so far managed to convince 40 Mps.
Sources told Radio Dalsan that orders to have Hassan “punished” for criticizing the Madhobe administration came from the regional President himself.
The Jubbaland State of Somalia faces an emerging political crisis with recent supposed clamp down on dissenting voices challenging the Ahmed Islam Madhobe administration.
