Somalia’s Election Commission Deputy Chairman Sacked

The deputy chairman of Somalia’s National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC), Sayid Ali Sheikh Mohamed has been fired on Friday.

According to a statement released by the commision, Mohamed was accused of plotting a bid to dismantle the National Independent Electoral Commission and violating the body’s by-laws by using his authority.

Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, PM Hassan Ali Khaire and Ministry of Interior as well the chief justice were informed of the decision to fire NIEC’s deputy boss.

Mohamed was also removed from the membership of the electoral commision. This is the first such move to sack a high-ranking official at NIEC since the polls agency was formed in 2015.

Somalia is expected to hold its first one person, one vote election in 2021 for nearly five decades as the Horn of Africa country is recovering from bloody civil war broke out in 1991.