Today, the Honorable Yassin Haji Mohamoud Hiir ‘Faratoon’, won the top position of the Somaliland House of Representatives by a comfortable lead against his competitor the Honorable Mohamed Khadar.
Of a full house of 82 MPs – a rare occurrence in the lower house of the Somaliland bicameral parliament, the Rt. Hon. Yassin Hiir got 46 ‘ayes’ where MP Khadar won an impressive 35 votes despite his junior records on both age and experience compared to the formidable opponent he was running against. The chairing First Deputy Speaker and Acting Speaker, the Rt. Hon. Saeed Mire Farah ‘Giirre’ did not vote in accordance with the House standing orders on voting procedures since there was no tied vote.
Speaker Faratoon replaces Abdirizak Khalif who, against all expectations, abruptly brought a brilliant political future in Somaliland when he resigned last month confirming his full support to insurgents who were fighting against the Somaliland statehood in the Sool region.
Both Faratoon and Khalif hail from there and from, specifically, the same sub clan in Eastern Sool – a region that was put on the torch by people with ulterior motives despite the fact that elders representing it signed all pacts and resolutions on which the restoration of Somaliland’s sovereignty was based starting with the Burao declaration of 1991.
The new Speaker has an unparalleled record in peace-building and in Somaliland politics dating back to 1991 when he first attended the conferences that built up to the Grand All-clan gathering in Burao in May 1991 which resolved to restore Somaliland the sovereignty it lost to a dream of a Greater Somali Republic in 1960.
The Honorable new Speaker, Professor Yassin Haji Mohamoud served under all five Presidents – Abdirahman M Ali, Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, Dahir Rayale, Ahmed Siilaanyo, and Musa Bihi, respectively, serving as minister on different portfolios under four of them.
Speaker Faratoon’s loyalty to Somaliland unity and statehood never wavered even for a single day since then in contrast to the man he replaces who is now seen as an opportunist of no great political depth or farsightedness.
