Presidential candidate Guled urges united front against Covid19 in Somalia, calls for timely election

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Presidential candidate Guled urges united front against Covid19 in Somalia, calls for timely election

MOGADISHU (Horn Observer) Somali presidential aspirant, Abdikarin Hussein Guled has called for a united front to combat against Covid-19 in Somalia as the Somalis already face social and economic effects of the pandemic.

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Somali Presidential aspirant Abdikarin Hussein Guled. (Photo/ Horn Observer/Courtesy)

MOGADISHU (Horn Observer) Somali presidential aspirant, Abdikarin Hussein Guled has called for a united front to combat against Covid-19 in Somalia as the Somalis already face social and economic effects of the pandemic.

On Sunday, the country’s health ministry declared the death of second coronavirus patient in a quarantine facility in Mogadishu raising total deaths of the pandemic since the outbreak in the capital to two cases. So far 25 cases have been recorded nationwide, as per the Health Minister, Dr Fawsiya Abikar Nur.

Mr Guled, the former leader of Galmudug State who also served as the Federal Internal Security Minister, has cautioned on the delays in taking urgent measures to curb and control the disease that has now turned into a local transmission.

"Establishment of a national committee comprising leaders of the central government, regional heads of state governments and leaders of opposition parties for a united efforts to raise awareness and control the risk of the infection is very important,” Mr. Guled said.

Somalia needs to scale up its efforts, he said, by launching a national fundraising campaign and mobilisation of communities and educating them for the fight against COVID19 and finding the tools and services necessary to prevent, treat and control the disease.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

Despite suspending international and domestic flights, the Mogadishu-based Federal government has yet to come up with a national plan to reduce the economic and social impact of Covid-19 on the Somali citizens.

The social and economic effects of COVID-19 are far reaching, and further compound the debilitating consequences of conflict, desert locust infestation, droughts and perennial flooding that impact the most vulnerable populations.

The pandemic has partially thwarted inflow of goods especially from key supply markets. That notwithstanding, key ports remain operational despite low supply inflows.   According to n April 3 survey by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), In Mogadishu, key commodities prices have increased because of supply-demand imbalance resulting from upstream supply chain disruptions due to the Covid-19 crisis.

"I would propose [the government] to eliminate all taxes on wages, benefits, and essential goods basic to the public life, such as food, medicine and medical supplies, during the period to combat COVID19, so that the Somali public can get their livelihood at a reasonable prices,” Mr. Guled who also worked in the Somali humanitarian sector has noted "I urge the Somali business community to take their part as well.”

'GOVERNANCE AND ELECTION SHOULD NOT BE AFFECTED'

The Somali federal electoral law has been approved by the House of the People and was signed into law by the President on 20 February but more work needs to be done to address many outstanding questions necessary to implement the code including the identification of constituencies and allocation of seats to the constituencies, identifying which seats in Parliament will be reserved for women to ensure a minimum 30 per cent representation, modalities for electing the seats allocated for Somalilanders, and the representation of residents of Benadir region in the Parliament.

There is another fear that Covid-19 pandemic might be a good excuse for the incumbent president to delay or even to abandon the projected poll at all.

As a technocrat and experienced federal lawmaker, Mr. Guled deems that crisis such as Covid-19 should not force cease of government services by reminding that utilizing and navigating the modern technology in today’s world had simplified world governments to interact with citizens. Similarly he urges the Independent Electoral Commission to come clean on postponement of 2020/2021 polls.

"During the 1964 war, ex-President Abdirashid Ali Sharma’arke had said let’s fight with one arm and vote with the other. Today we have to use that historical speech as an exemplary,” he adds.

"We also warn against any justification of putting Covid-19 as a pretext to postpone the general elections. We reiterate to emphasise the Federal Government and the Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) to hold timely elections,” Mr. Guled concluded.

(HORN OBSERVER)