Farmaajo Chose the Wrong Path

All of a sudden, when the electoral commission in Somalia began counting the votes, things started to look disastrous for both the incumbent president, Hassan Sheikh and former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who were the front-runners in the eyes of the public, it became apparent that the underdog, Mohamed Abdullahi (Farmaajo) was doing better than many expected.

Out of nowhere and frankly against all odds, Farmaajo slowly but steadily became a serious challenger to the incumbent president Hassan Sh. Mohamud, coming in second in the first round. Farmaajo managed to keep the momentum in the second round, running away with the lead, and in the process defeating the incumbent president. The sound of celebration over took the murmur of speculation! Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo) became the president of the federal government of Somalia.

The Somali people home and abroad cheered and applauded their new president, a popular politician in the eyes of the people, they had high hopes of him, celebrating him as “the saviour of the nation” in a heroic move, both president Hassan and president Sharif stood behind the new president and pledged their unconditional support for his presidency.

President Farmaajo and his team, instead of taking advantage of the public support coming up with policies and initiatives to advance the development of the nation, to bring both security and political stability, they choose the wrong path, a path of dictatorship, oppression, undermining the rule of law, and in the process making lots of new enemies many of whom were their supporters in the initial days.

President Farmaajo and his team didn’t stop there, they began to terrorize anyone who disagreed with them, raiding the homes of politicians, killing innocent people, including SNA personnel, prohibiting free press, turning NISA (National Intelligence Service) into a cartel, undermining the Somali system of government, the federal system, disregarding the separation of powers, destroying the authority of the parliament, and the judiciary system.