President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Outlines Somalia’s Democratic Future, Calling for an End to Personality-Driven Politics

JOWHAR, SOMALIA (SONNA) — In a sweeping national address delivered in Jowhar, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud presented a bold and definitive roadmap for the political future of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Highlighting the stark contrast between the nation’s rapidly advancing physical infrastructure and its outdated political mechanics, the President declared that Somalia must definitively transition away from clan-centric and personality-driven politics toward a formalized, issue-based party system.

“The only thing wrong with Somalia is the politics; we must move beyond personalized politics,” President Hassan Sheikh stated. Tracing the nation’s political evolution, he noted that Somalia has progressed from the destructive era of warlords to the current system reliant on clan elders. However, he emphasized that to survive and compete on the global stage, the nation must mature into a modernized democracy. “As a society, we need to progress as a nation. We need the politics of parties, just like civilized nations,” he affirmed.

The President’s address serves as a direct mandate for the implementation of a universal suffrage model. He outlined a clear vision where political power is decentralized from traditional power brokers and returned directly to the citizens. In this new system, the President explained, a candidate “needs to be part of a political party with a known manifesto, sell it to the public, and go to the public to plead for a vote directly”. This transition demands that leaders earn their positions through policy and performance rather than inherited alliances.

This call for democratic reform serves as the ultimate conclusion to the federal delegation’s tour of Hirshabelle, where massive new infrastructure projects such as the Ministry of Finance and Villa Hirshabelle were inaugurated earlier in the day. The President made it clear that while physical state-building is advancing, it cannot be sustained without a secure and modern political foundation. “We need to institutionalize the political process and move away from the current chaos,” he concluded, signaling that the federal government is fully committed to cementing a one-person, one-vote electoral system.