International community warns Somalia's new Parliament against corruption

The international community has warned Somalia’s new parliament against corruption practices, emphasising the need for the embattled nation to “move forward” as new MPs are set to select the next President.

Somalia recently inaugurated the tenth Parliament in a ceremony that saw 283 members of parliament (MPs) take their oaths of office.*

Forty-one of the MPs will become senators in the Upper House while 242 will be members of the House of the People.

The parliamentarians placed their right hands on the Holy Quran in groups of 30 as they took an oath of allegiance.
Naima Mohamed Ga’al, an MP elected from Galmudug, was among those sworn in.

“Today I am happy to be sworn in as an MP. I am happy to represent the people and to be sworn in to serve them and the country. I hope we will witness change in the country,”

Members of the diplomatic corps, senior officials of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) led by the Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, Lydia Wanyoto, and the Chairman of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT), Omar Mohamed Abdulle witnessed the event.

The MPs were sworn in at the General Kahiye Police Academy during a function officiated by the outgoing Speaker of the Federal Parliament of Somalia, Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari who described the event as a milestone in the history of country.

Congrats! #10th Parliament of Somalia # 283 MPs took their oaths of office. #Somalia is moving forward https://t.co/7CmJUXCqiw pic.twitter.com/D6b2n9IPc9

— UNSOM (@UNSomalia) December 28, 2016

Somalia has been at war for more than a quarter of a century, but diplomats and some citizens hope the current political process will help bring some stability.

Somalia’s weak U.N.-backed government is dependent on foreign funds to pay the fledgling armed forces and a contingent of 22,000 African Union peacekeepers.