The Speaker of the Somaliland House of Representative and at the same time chair of Wadani, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi "Irro" has responded to recent criticism raised against him and his party by senior members of rival New UCID and also took a swipe at the administration of President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud "Silaanyo".
At a well organised banquet held in Hargeisa to celebrate the certification of Wadani as one of the three political parties in Somaliland for the next ten years, Speaker Irro stated
"That Wadani is an opposition party. We will try to build and not destroyed, and we remain friends with the administration and Kulmiye, but we are not its client party, and there is nothing in the constitution that stops me from holding both the post of Speaker and the chair of a political party".
Continuing his comments, Speaker Irro stated "For more than year my opponents have been trying to find a clause in the constitution that will preclude me from holding both posts. My opponents have hired lawyers to find such clauses but all they could find that an individual can be the chair of two parties or two different parties at the same time. I was never the chair of my former party UCID, so this does not apply to me"
In a message to prospective New UCID presidential candidate, Jamal Ali Hussein, Speaker Irro stated " Jamal should not waste time on this Speaker/Party chair issue, my old friend Faisal had devoted much time to this and come out with nothing. It is better for him to work to build his party and formulate his future plans for the country, rather than waste time on a non-issue such as this one".
In conclusion, Wadani chair, Abdirahman Irro lambasted the inept Somaliland National Electoral Commission (NEC) and the administration of President Silaanyo for losing the confidence of the people in the miss-management and interference in the recently concluded local council elections and promised that Wadani will do a much better job.
All in all, Speaker Irro's first comments since the certification of Wadani suggest that although he is not afraid to attack the beleaguered administration of President Silaanyo, but would also like maintain a working relationship with Kulmiye, but sees UCID as his main rival for future parliamentary and presidential election.
Senior Somaliland political analysts predict a coalition of Kulmiye-Wadani in future parliamentary and presidential elections.
