MISLEADING DINNER PARTY: HASSAN SHEIKH’S LAST MOVES

By Faisal Roble

In what is expected to be a dog-fight presidential race, former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is leaving no stone unturned.  In the last four months, he has employed a three-pronged layered architecture of tactics to secure a victory, including seeking support from neighboring countries, positioning a number of his close allies at leadership positions in the Parliament, and flooding the country with disinformation to dissuade or discourage an increasing anti-incumbent national sentiment.

His first ruse was to fund an Addis Ababa-based Think-tank that closely reflects the views of the Ethiopian government vis-à-vis Somalia.  Now viewed as Addis Ababa’s man in Mogadishu, Hassan Sheikh and his inner circle convinced of each other that most Somali law makers would be intimidated if one of the neighboring countries throws its support behind the President’s reelection.

Accordingly, a solid support was secured from Addis Ababa. This move was indeed a gamble on Hassan Sheikh’s part. Inadvertently, though, it backfired. From all indications, the CDRD report which came out of Addis Ababa and the clear message that Hassan was seeking tutelage position assumed by Hassan Sheikh from Addis Ababa may have turned off many Somalia Parliamentarians, and possibly caused them to not support him.

The second play book Hassan Sheikh the Somalis is his foiled plan to back his allies, namely Farah Abdikadir and Abdirashid Xidig. Despite huge investment in both political capital and material wealth, both candidates were defeated.  Farah Abdikadir, a politically savvy and a campaign strategist for the loosely allied Demjadid group, to which the President belongs, sought the position of assistant to the speaker of the house. Abdirashid Xidig, known to employ rough and tumble politics, was not successful to unseat Mohamed Jawari.

Had both Farah Abdikadir and Abdirashid Xidig succeeded in their quest for the top two positions of the Parliament, according to the play book of Hassan Sheik, they would have been aided in the implementation of the plan by Dr. Bayle, former Foreign Minister, and Abdulahi Sheikh Fartag, member of the Senate also from Jubbaland.  Dr. Bayle is the chairman and Fartag is a member at large of the parliamentary committee managing the election, respectively.

If all these individuals succeeded in controlling these key positions in the leadership of the two houses, the rest would have been HISTORY, says Hassan Sheikh’s play book.

Thanks to a new energy injected into the newly seated Parliament, Jawari came back as the chairman of the lower house, and Abdi Hashi, a highly respected and unbridled patriotic Somali, control the lower and the upper houses, respectively.

Humbled by a second chance the nation gave to Jawari, a heavy burden is placed on Jawari to oversee a fair and free election from him and from Abdi Hashi. That is not too much to ask by a nation that has not had a functioning government for over 25 years.

The Sin of the Last Supper at SYL Hotel

On the eve of January 30, 2017, former President Hassan sheikh Mohamud pulled off his last play book – hosting a dinner party to his supporters at the SYL boutique hotel in Mogadishu’s green line. The event was meant to create an optical illusion and send a distorted message about how strong Hassan Sheikh’s support in the new parliament is.  He wanted to send to his benefactors at the AU summit, to which he depart one day later after the now infamous dinner party, that he has a broad support from the new Parliament.

Before the President spoke following a lavish dinner, he was preceded by several speakers known to support him: cases in point include the fiery Maryan Ariif who painted a saint picture out of Hassan Sheikh. Maryan, otherwise a vitriolic commentator and anti–federalism, supports Hassan because of a close friendship with him.

Another speaker was one Abdisalam Sheikh, one of Southwest’s political personalities and a known floater with a dearth of principles, also praised Hassan Sheikh as the next President of the country.

Unforgettable was Abdirashid Xidig’s speech. Xidig, who has been lately shacking with Mr. Mohamud, spoke firmly and deliberately, albeit Faustian as well as forward looking to the future for personal gains, was not believable by many Somalis. His meteoric and dramatic changes of loyalty carries less credence and may not amount much to Hassan Sheikh goal – getting more votes.

Mr. Xidig mislead the nation by conveying a distorted message about the size of the crowd – he said there were about 190 law makers who came to the dinner party willingly.

Unlike Abdirashid Xidig’s, the appearance of Fartag at the dinner party surprised the nation for several reasons: first, Fartag is in a leadership position in the Senate and he may arbiter the upcoming election. His public endorsement of an active candidate raised questions of CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Second, he has in the past accused Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of sabotage and almost came close to calling the President’s biased policies a “national treason.”

Many wonder where the quick change of heart came from. Many more also succumbed to a depth of despair about the future of the new parliament when they were told that members of its new leadership already gotten corrupted. As we learned later on, that was a deliberate disinformation planned and delivered by Hassan Sheikh’s campaign team.

Tallying the Truth at the Dinner Party

For Hassan Sheikh, the most important element about the dinner party, perhaps as important as Jesus’ Last Supper, was not the voices and swearing of support by the “loved leader’s” entourage, but the number of attendees.  None of the speakers at the dinner party are credible given the message they were trying to sell.

All that Hassan wanted from what could be his “last supper” was to show the millions of Somalis who would listen and watch the video through social media that 190 law makers showed up at the dinner. If true, this would have been a power message of endorsement.

The total tally conveyed in the video tape released by the President’s campaign team put the participants of the dinner party at 190 law makers all of whom “voluntarily” came to show “support” to the inviolable and inevitable President.

But that was not true. Sources close to Villa Somalia suggest a different calculus

1. About 60 parliamentarians were hard core supporter of the President.  These are mostly either Damjadid or allies of Damjadid parliamentarians from all regions of the country.
2. The second and largest group comprised of employees of several agencies and government ministries.  This group is estimated to go as high as 100 individuals who sat at the back of the room.
3. The third and smallest group consisted of about 20 business people and family members of the President.

The dinner party was full of lies and deceit; change is in the way.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s three-pronged strategy to win back Villa Somalis is based on getting support from foreign governments, taking over Parliamentary leadership and spreading disinformation of the size of his support base. All these moves seem to not cut with Somalis thus far. But the final verdict would be known it a week’s time.

Faisal Roble
Email:faisalroble19@gmail.com
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Faisal Roble, a writer, political analyst and a former Editor-in-Chief of WardheerNews, is mainly interested in the Horn of Africa region. He is currently the Principal Planner for the City of Los Angeles in charge of Master Planning, Economic Development and Project Implementation Division.

Source: wardheernews.com