President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (HSM) has crossed a constitutional red line. By unleashing military and police force against Somali citizens, he has trampled upon the very freedoms that form the backbone of our Provisional Federal Constitution (2012).
Somali citizens exercising their right to speak, assemble, and move freely in their own country are met with live bullets from the Somali Police Force, an act not of governance but of brutal lawlessness. This is not merely a political mistake; it is an unlawful usurpation of power that shreds the social contract between our goverment and our people.
The Constitution is not vague on these matters. Article 18 guarantees freedom of expression and opinion, including the right to receive and impart information without interference. Article 20 protects the right to organize, to demonstrate, and to protest peacefully without requiring permission from the government. Article 21 secures freedom of movement and residence across Somali territory.
Article 16 ensures the right of every Somali citizen to associate, including through political parties. These provisions are unambiguous, binding, and supreme. No president, no police commander, and no prime minister has any authority to strip our people of these rights. To do so is an open violation of the Constitution and a betrayal of our people’s political right and aspirations.
It is important to note that Pres HSM himself instigated much of the political unrest in Mogadishu by illegally appropriating public lands and brutally evicting poor Somali families from their homes.
One appalling incident involved an 80-year-old Somali man whose home was demolished in broad daylight. The victim testified that the bulldozer that tore down his home physically lifted him into the air, which means that neither the police nor the driver of the bulldozer cared whether someone was still inside.
When this elderly man later spoke publicly about the cruelty he endured by attending an event organized by Madasha, he was beaten again with unimaginable brutality by uniformed Somali police officers, again in broad daylight. Such inhumane actions expose the regime’s utter contempt for Somali lives and its reckless disregard for even the most vulnerable among us.
It is in this context that PM Hamza Abdi Barre’s disgraceful statement must be understood. To accuse the Madasha of a coup attempt is not only delusional; it is a calculated attempt to criminalize dissent and provide cover for state violence.
Hamza Abdi Barre was not selected for leadership, but for blind obedience. His role is merely to echo the commands of Pres HSM, suppress his own thoughts, and serve as a hollow vessel of borrowed words. His outburst carries no political weight or meaning, but the recklessness of his rhetoric has tarnished both himself and the office he occupies.
President HSM has no political, constitutional, or moral authority to obstruct the opposition from organizing lawful protests. His hypocrisy is glaring. Just three and a half years ago, he was among the loudest voices in opposition, demanding accountability and exercising the very freedoms he now denies others.
To turn his back on those principles the moment he reclaimed power is not only hypocrisy; it is corruption of the highest order. It is the politics of “do as I say, not as I do”, a politics that corrodes trust, poisons public life, and exposes a so-called “leader” who fears accountability more than he fears the disintegration of our great nation itself.
Worse still, Pres HSM’s administration reeks of corruption. The illegal appropriation and secret sale of public lands to his political and business cronies is a betrayal of the public trust. His tenure has delivered neither progress in governance nor stability in security. His only discernible vision is personal survival in Villa Somalia: staying in power at all costs, even if Somalia itself collapses.
What exactly would he do differently if he remains in office another four, eight, or even twenty years?
The evidence of the past three and a half years is damning: he has done nothing of substance, and he shows no capacity to do otherwise. Somalia is stagnating under his hand, and every additional year he stays in office is a year stolen from our country’s survival and the future of our people.
Article 38 of the Constitution makes plain that rights may only be limited when the restriction is lawful, justified, reasonable, and fair. Shooting live rounds at peaceful Somali citizens, criminalizing opposition voices, demolishing the homes of the poor, and silencing free expression are none of these things.
They are lawless, unjustified, unreasonable, and profoundly unfair. They are the acts of an insecure president clinging to power through violence and intimidation. Such acts delegitimize the presidency itself and the federal goverment.
In my opinion, the conclusion is clear and unavoidable: the longer Pres HSM remains in office, the greater the risk of national collapse. Our country cannot afford a presidency built on bullets, bulldozers, and lies. His departure from power is not simply desirable, it is necessary for the survival of the Somali state as a united entity. Somalia deserves leaders who respect the Constitution, protect the people, and govern through dialogue and accountability, not coercion and corruption. Until then, our freedoms remain under siege, and our Constitution remains dishonored and violated by the very man sworn to uphold it.
SOOMAALIYA HA NOOLAATO!
Mukhtar Ainashe