STORY: Senior Somali officials optimistic about upcoming

polls
DURATION: 4:30
SOURCE: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
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CREDIT REQUIRED: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
LANGUAGE: ENGLISHSOMALI NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 21/JUNE/2019, KAMPALA, UGANDA

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide shot, senior Somali officials attending workshop on electoral security and
dispute resolution in the meeting hall
2. Med shot, Justice Simon Byabakama, Chairperson of Uganda’s Electoral
Commission and Halima Ismail Ibrahim, Chairperson of the National Independent
Electoral Commission of Somalia (NIEC) at the closing
3. Med shot, participants listening
4. Med shot, Halima Ismail Ibrahim, Chairperson of the National Independent
Electoral Commission of Somalia (NIEC) speaking to participants
5. Close up shot, a participant listening
6. Med shot, Justice Simon Byabakama, Chairperson of Uganda’s Electoral
Commission listening
7. Med shot, Hajji Ssebirumbi, AMISOM Senior Political Officer, and other
participants taking notes
8. Wide shot, Halima Ismail Ibrahim, Chairperson of the National Independent
Electoral Commission of Somalia (NIEC) speaking
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Halima Ismail Ibrahim, Chairperson of the National
Independent Electoral Commission of Somalia
“I request parliamentarians in this workshop to advocate for ‘one-person one-vote’
within the senate and the house of the parliament to expedite the passing of the
electoral law. Electoral law is one of the important issues for elections. Without the
electoral law we cannot move beyond. As NIEC we try to work hard and we have
reached a level where we cannot move without an electoral law.”

10. Wide shot, participants listening

11. Med shot, participants listening
12. Close up shot, a participant typing on a computer
13. Close up shot, Halima Ismail Ibrahim, Chairperson of the National Independent
Electoral Commission of Somalia (NIEC) listening
14. Med shot, participants listening
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Justice Simon Byabakama, Chairperson of the Electoral
Commission of Uganda
“In order to deliver on person one vote concept, it is important that the National
Independent Electoral Commission urgently comes up with electoral locations for
the Electoral Security Task Force to map out the security threats and carry out the
necessary risk assessment. This will enable the taskforce to complete the drafting of
the electoral security strategy and come up with a clear action plan in a timely
manner,”

16. Wide shot, participants listening

17. Med shot, participants listening
18. Close up shot, participants listening
19. Wide shot, participants listening
20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hajji Ssebirumbi, AMISOM Senior Political Officer
“And we are all aware that Somalia has not had this type of elections (‘one-person,
one-vote’) for the last 50 years so therefore the essence of planning, the essence of
coordination, the essence of having a strategy is what we were working towards.
Also the other objective of this workshop was to look at the electoral disputes that
may arise, drawing from the elections that were previously held by Somalia.”

21. Close up shot, participants at the workshop

22. Med shot, participants taking notes
23. Med shot, participants listening
24. Close up shot, participants listening
25. Close up shot, a participant taking notes
26. Med shot, a participant typing on a computer
27. Close up shot, a participant listening
28. Close up shot, a participant listening
29. SOUNDBITE: (Somali) Yusuf Ali Mohamed, Director General of the Federal
Ministry of Internal Security
“We learnt that the security forces needed training in human rights and training in
other basic skills and they also need equipment in order to hold their positions. For
the coming months we are training about 2,000 police officers in order to keep to
secure electoral areas.”

30. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr. Abdi Fatah Ismail Tahir, Member of Federal
Parliament of Somalia

“Personally, I quite like the experience that was kind of relayed from Nigeria, which
was emerging from a post-conflict context. Not only post-conflict context but also a
context that relates to the kind of terrorism that related to problems we have in
Somalia, they also had in certain provinces in Nigeria where terrorists have a strong
presence and we learned quite a lot from the way they managed to hold that kind of
an election. And we also had some experience that can be related to our context
from the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and from the Ivory Coast as well.”

Senior Somali officials optimistic about upcoming polls

Kampala, 22 June 2019 - Senior Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) officials have
expressed optimism that the country will hold peaceful and credible elections in
2020/2021 despite the political and socio-economic challenges facing the country.

Speaking at the close of the four-day workshop on electoral security and dispute
resolution, in Kampala on Thursday, the officials urged all government agencies
involved in the preparations to work together to achieve universal adult suffrage.

“I request parliamentarians in this workshop to advocate for ‘one-person one-vote’

within the senate and the house of the parliament to expedite the passing of the
electoral law,” said the Chairperson of the National Independent Electoral
Commission of Somalia (NIEC), Halima Ismail Ibrahim.

Ms. Ibrahim said electoral law was critical in guiding preparations, implementation
and management of future elections, adding that parliament must urgently ensure
the law is passed.

Civil society groups have been pushing for the enactment of the electoral law, saying
it will help enhance the participation of citizens in the country’s decision making
process.

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Uganda, Justice Simon Byabakama,

said in order for Somalia to deliver a ‘one-person, one-vote’ election, the NIEC must
urgently come up with electoral locations to enable the Electoral Security Task Force
to map out security threats and carry out the necessary risk assessment.

“This will enable the task force to complete the drafting of the electoral security
strategy and also come up with a clear action plan in a timely manner,” Justice
Byabakama observed.

He said Uganda’s Electoral Commission was ready to offer technical support to the
NIEC and urged the international community to help Somalia organise her first
universal adult suffrage elections since 1969.

AMISOM Senior Political Officer, Hajji Ssebirumbi, said Somalia was on the right track
to achieve secure, free and fair elections, saying electoral officials were working hard
to achieve universal adult suffrage.
“We are all aware that Somalia has not had this type of elections (‘one-person, one-
vote’) for the last 50 years so the essence of planning, coordination and having a
strategy in place is what we are working on at the moment,” added Mr. Ssebirumbi.

The workshop also discussed the electoral disputes that may arise, using previous
exercises, mainly the 2012 and the 2016 elections, as examples.

Mr. Ssebirumbi said the workshop had come up with recommendations on electoral
security, which will be reviewed by the government and partners before a final
strategy is published.

“Similarly there will be proposals that will be put forward on alternate dispute
resolution mechanisms so that we can be able to prepare for free, fair, secure and
credible elections in 2020/21,” he added.

The Director General of the Federal Ministry of Internal Security, Yusuf Ali Mohamed,
emphasised that the ministry will do everything within its power to ensure there are
enough officers to secure all electoral areas.

“We learnt that the security forces needed training on human rights and other basic
skills and also need equipment in order to perform their duties effectively. In the
coming months we will train about 2 000 police officers to help secure electoral
areas,” noted Mr. Mohamed.

Dr. Abdi Fatah Tahir, a member of the federal parliament, expressed hope that the
2020/2021 elections will be successful, saying the officials have learned positive
lessons from several African countries that experienced similar challenges to what
Somalia is currently facing.

“We had good lessons and we can now start forming the Electoral Security Task Force
for Somalia and also understand the relationship between the judiciary, the NIEC and
the forces and how they can mitigate electoral disputes,” Mr. Tahir added.

The four-day workshop, which commenced on Monday, was organised by the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

ENDS