For Prime Minister Hamza to succeed, President Hassan has to take a back seat and accept his ceremonial role

By The Star Editorial Board

MOGADISHU — Several days ago, Somalia’s ceremonial President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud slipped away on a secret trip to the United Arab Emirates whose agenda is still unknown to the Somali public.

Four days later, the head of state sneaked back into the country and immediately after disembarking from the plane headed for his residence. Government-run radio and TV stations didn’t cover or report his departure or return.

The president’s private movements ought to be the least of our worries as long as he’s well-protected and hale and healthy. Constitutionally, his job is insignificant to the grand scheme of things and so restrictive that he can’t even fire the prime minister he himself appointed.

Simple?

No. It’s not that simple because the president’s recent behaviors barely conformed to the Constitution or typified the conduct of a caring leader.

Since May, when 214 parliamentarians elected him in a nation of 15 million, the president has been knocking about the world, spending hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of badly needed dollars, meeting foreign leaders and signing undisclosed agreements. In doing so, the president usurped the powers of the premier, Cabinet members and resisted accountability — all setbacks to the country’s endeavor to emerge from decades of wars and political instability.

President Hassan’s hankering for international attention and his proclivity to go his own way, regardless of the dictates of the Constitution, are well known, but his flagrant capture of the role of Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and Cabinet members must be condemned by all because it sends a wrong message that the rule of the law is irrelevant. On Oct. 6, the president gleefully chaired the Cabinet’s session, an act he can not constitutionally do without Hamza’s consent or request.

It’s obvious that President Hassan feels constrained by the norms of good governance: Accountability and transparency. If Hassan was a tad cautious in his first term and shied away from publicly breaking the law, he now appears to have thrown caution to the winds, acting as if he’s in charge of the executive arm of government

It’s puzzling why the president is resorting to extra-constitutional means to make himself relevant. Candidate Hassan ran for a ceremonial position that has no executive powers. He knows that the Constitution conferred the duty of leading the government on the prime minister.

President Hassan shouldn’t engage in the same illegalities he accused his predecessor of committing. Legal advisers must bring the head of state to his senses and enlighten him about the limits of his powers. For, Somalia doesn’t need a rogue president who contravenes the law of the land and appropriates willy-nilly the powers of the prime minister. Nor does it need a prime minister, who’s a puppet of his appointer. The country’s Constitution envisions a capable and assertive prime minister, who gets things done, shows his true leadership mettle and stands his ground.

During the heady days prior to the country’s presidential election on May 15, Candidate Hassan savaged then-President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmajo” for extending his term for more than a year. (In his first term, President Hassan remained in office for nearly six extra months.) Hassan was at the time a part of a foreign-backed clique of politicians who regularly insulted the former president and urged him to give former Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble the freedom he needed to do his job.

As the “guardian and promoter” of the Constitution, President Hassan must stop micromanaging Prime Minister Hamza, who is in charge of the government’s day-to-day business, and allow him to carry out his duty without hindrance.

Similar attempts at power grab have in the past triggered disagreements between presidents and their prime ministers, leading to the ouster of many and the paralysis of government businesses at the time.

Hassan and Hamza may have been bosom buddies well before their new jobs, but that should not be an avenue for becoming comrades in crime or an excuse for breaking the law at will. Each has his own job description and each should stick to his role. Yes, they’ve to work collaboratively, but they, too, have to do so within the confines of the law.

The President’s recent power grab will only exacerbate his lack of social legitimacy, already highlighted by the annoying photos of him surrounded by members of his sub-clan on his recent trips abroad. The president’s inability to think big and see beyond his clan’s interests only added to the perception among many Somalis that he accepted nepotism as a style of governance.

It would be remiss of Prime Minister Hamza if he didn’t speak out against the president’s nepotism or yielded to the president’s attempts to make the premiership an appendage of the presidency. Hamza can’t go AWOL or let the president lead him a merry chase. The country needs a firm premier, who can see it through the drought, rid it of terrorists and unite its people. The Somali public wants to see its premier solving real bread-and-butter issues — not kowtowing to a ceremonial president. The premier’s trip to Ethiopia is nothing to shout about — it could well be a red herring intended to give him a false sense of importance, while the president eats Hamza’s lunch.

President Hassan, even though he’s the commander in chief of the armed forces, can rarely act alone. The Constitution demands that he consult with relevant authorities — or act on their recommendations — before undertaking almost any major decisions. One of the president’s most consequential duties under the Constitution is to sign bills passed by parliament into law.

Few Somalis have trust in President Hassan’s willingness to abide by the Constitution and be transparent, an understandable distrust informed by his tarnished track record between 2012 and 2017. That shouldn’t stop anyone from speaking truth to the president, whose second term is hurtling toward a failure.

Already, there’s a friction between the president and most of the country’s regional administrations. His reputation is also so tattered that a Nairobi-based disinformation farm, Sahan — which is led by a former friend of his, Matt Bryden, who’s convicted of espionage by a Banadir court — became one of his staunchest defenders. Bryden, whose organization continuously demonized former President Farmajo, has gone as far as threatening The Somalia Star journalists with death after the media outlet published an editorial critical of President Hassan.

To be sure, President Hassan is not the only leader, who tried to hijack his prime minister’s powers or try to rule by decrees. Since 2000, the country’s top leaders have been locked in battles of supremacy and each leader’s quick method was to treat his prime minister as his chief assistant or engineer his removal through a vote of no confident in parliament.

Serving his second term, President Hassan should have known better and not repeated the same mistakes of his first term when he connived with lawmakers to topple two prime ministers after they clashed with him over policies. If Hassan has a strong desire to become an executive president, he should have the courage to ventilate his views about the governance system he wants.

After that, the ball will be in the parliamentarians’ court, who could suggest amendments to the provisional Constitution to grant the president more powers.

Before then, President Hassan must obey the letter and spirit of the current Constitution and let Prime Minister Hamza do his job without interference.

Mr. President, be content with your ceremonial role.