Former chairman of Somaliland’s electoral commission speaks out
By Samson Haileyesus
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia- Jama Mohamoud Omar, former chairman of Somaliland’s National electoral commission (NEC) has spoken out against what he called the electoral process in Somaliland falling into the hands of foreign institutions and is calling for the international community as well as Somaliland’s neighbors to do all they can towards helping Somaliland continue in its path towards democratization.

Speaking on the causes that led to his Commission to leave office Mohamoud Omar pointed towards the delay of eight months in the swearing in of his commission had also hampered the smooth workings of NEC. He also noted that Inter Peace, the company contracted to conduct voter registration had problems in capacity and executive implementation and had not monitored the work properly prompting delays. He also noted that the various agendas by political parties in Somaliland had also proven counter productive. READ Full INTERVIEW ON PAge 5

“Theirs [the international community] was a very generous support without them it would have been a dream to conduct a voter registration but they invested the money in the wrong hands Inter Peace were not the right organization due to capacity and executive implementation and they have not monitored the work there was no evaluation there was no monitoring… We appealed a number of times saying that the work is not going as expected then they said we know things are going on the right track then they put preconditions”, said Mohamoud Omar.

 “The government should take the responsibility into looking at the election budget in the future. Nothing in foreign hands can help Somaliland”, warned Mohamoud Omar
 
“I have been running as a chairman of the electoral committee I have been running it as a neutral body many people maybe were not pleased but history will tell what went wrong, whether I was right but still I am encouraging that all stakeholders should work hard on Somaliland elections. Elections are the only way for Somaliland”, said Mohamoud Omar.

Mohamoud Omar and the commission’s members left office in October 2009 following a consensus reached between the various political parties ending months of feuding.

In 1991, after the collapse of the central government in Somalia, Somaliland declared its independence on May 18, 1991. Somaliland has formed a hybrid system of governance under the Constitution of Somaliland, combining traditional and western institutions. In a series of inter-clan conferences, culminating in the Boorama Conference in 1993, community system of government was constructed, which consisted of an Executive, with a President, Vice President, and Council of Ministers, a bicameral Legislature, and an independent judiciary. The guurti, the traditional Somali council of elders was incorporated into the governance structure and formed the upper house