President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has officially opened the 5th session of the Federal Parliament after two months of recess. The president delivered a long speech addressing the current situation in the country, including the security, fight against Al-Shabaab, economic reforms and the bills at the house.
He said, his government is doing its best to handle and achieve the challenges that lie ahead and urged the parliament to speed up the approval of laws submitted by the cabinet. The president had signed two bills into law during his first two years in office, a move showing that the parliamentary work fell short significantly since 2017.
The president called on the lawmakers in both the Senate and the Lower House, to double their efforts’ in order to get ready for the tasks ahead to preparing to hold one person, one vote polls in 2020. In his address to the parliament, Somali president highlighted the need for a united front against extremist groups, Al-Shabaab and ISIL, asking the public to work with the armed forces.
He added that the government has made significant changes in the security sector by conducting a biometric registration process of the country’s armed forces to improve the payment system. Despite this, there are claims circulated on the local media in the past days about forces that vacated the frontline bases in Lower-Middle Shabelle regions for lack of salaries.
President Farmaajo underlined that his government has made substantial progress in the country’s economic growth and underscored the country has qualified for IMF debt relief program. Somalia’s external debt is about $5.2 billion, according to the IMF. It has not made a service or amortization payment since civil war broke out more than 25 years ago. Top government officials including the cabinet ministers, MPs, security chiefs, UN officials, diplomats have attended the opening of the national assembly’s 5th session.