Somalia’s federal parliament has approved the remaining members of Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon’s new Cabinet, as former Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas resigned from his post as member of the Somali federal parliament, Garowe Online reports.
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| Federal Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari [Dec. 29, 2012] |
Prime Minister Shirdon’s 10-minister cabinet was approved by MPs on Nov. 13. On Saturday, Somali MPs approved the remaining 25 members of the cabinet, consisting of 20 deputy ministers and 5 state ministers.
The parliament session in Mogadishu was chaired by Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari. Somali MPs debated the issue of two deputy ministers per ministry, among other issues. Speaker Jawari announced the vote, declaring that 138 MPs voted in favor of Prime Minister Shirdon’s Cabinet and 12 MPs voted no to the new Cabinet.
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| Federal Cabinet swearing-in [Dec. 29, 2012] |
“I wish to thank Somali Members of Parliament for working collaboratively with my government, as approval of the Cabinet is an example of our cooperation,” Prime Minister Shirdon said after the favorable vote.
Gaas resigns as Somali Member of Parliament
Former Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas, has resigned as a Somali MP, Speaker Jawari announced during Saturday’s deliberations.
Dr. Gaas, a former academic in New York State, is expected to return to the United States. In September, Dr. Gaas was among the losing candidates of the Somali presidential election.
Also on Saturday, Somali MP and former presidential candidate Hussein Khalif Jama resigned from his post as PM and both Dr. Gaas and Mr. Khalif were replaced by new MPs. Recently, Mogadishu mayor Mohamud Ahmed Nur Tarzan recently resigned as member of the Somali federal parliament.
Somalia’s federal parliament was established in August 2012. Somali political analysts say, under the country’s newly adopted federal constitution, an Upper House of federal parliament must be established that represents the states of federated Somalia.
