MPs debating no confidence vote

Members of the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) were in the process of debating a motion of no confidence in the Transitional National Government (TNG), an MP told IRIN on Tuesday. The motion was tabled last week by MPs who accused the government of Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr of lapses such as corruption and failure to promote national reconciliation, one MP, Prof Abdirahman Adan Ibrahim Ibi, said. Ibi denied accusations that the MPs who tabled the no confidence motion were plunging the one year-old government into a constitutional crisis. "Parliament is exercising its constitutionally approved oversight powers. If anything, this motion proves to the Somali people that the system works," he said. Ibi said the government's most significant failure had been its "inability or unwillingness to promote the reconciliation process". A 25-member peace and reconciliation committee was formed in May, with former Prime Minister Abdirazzaq Haji Husayn as its chairman. Abdirazzaq resigned on 25 July, accusing Galayr of failing to support the committee's work. The motion also accuses the government of failing to establish regional administrations. "For one year this government has failed to constitute a single regional administration," Ibi charged. Galayr and his government are also accused of corruption. A prime example cited is that the government reportedly handed out about 1,600 mobile phones to various individuals, at a cost to the treasury of over US $700,000 in calls alone. "This money could have been used to build a clinic or a school; instead, people used it for personal purposes," Ibi told IRIN. He said the parliamentary oversight committee had produced a document detailing cases of government corruption. Debate on the motion was still in progress, but the matter would probably put to a vote "no later than this weekend", Ibi said on Tuesday. MPs opposed to the motion were accusing the Speaker of plotting to topple the government by allowing it to go ahead, the BBC reported on 22 October. They were maintaining that the motion was part of a power struggle between the president, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, and Galayr. The debate over the fate of the government does not appear to have divided MPs along clan lines. In fact, the opposite may be happening. Most MPs belonging to the Hawiye - Abdiqassim's clan - were opposed to the motion, while most of their counterparts of the Darod - Galayr's clan - favoured the no-confidence motion, Somali sources told IRIN.