Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has hit back at former president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, widely known as Farmaajo, after his predecessor accused him of lacking credibility and knowing little about domestic or foreign policy.
Hassan Sheikh hosted Somali traditional elders at a dinner in Mogadishu late Tuesday, where he rejected Farmaajo’s criticism and defended his government’s push for one-person, one-vote elections.
He said Somalia could no longer remain inside the indirect political model that has shaped national power-sharing for decades.
“My friend Farmaajo, during his time, did he ever call us, those of us outside his camp, even for one day and ask: what do you think?” Hassan Sheikh said.
“I decided to move away from that Farmaajo road of consulting no one.”
Farmaajo had earlier delivered one of his sharpest public attacks on Hassan Sheikh since returning to Mogadishu, accusing the president of damaging Somalia’s standing abroad and mishandling both domestic and foreign affairs.
“If you stand one day with one of two countries in conflict, and the next day with the other, as we are seeing now, then you have no credibility,” Farmaajo said. “And if you have no credibility, your country will not have credibility.”
He added, “Hassan knows nothing about foreign policy, nothing about domestic politics. He knows nothing about either.”
‘Move forward’
Hassan Sheikh used his address to cast the dispute as a choice between reform and a return to the old system of elite bargaining.
“We do not want to keep this country where it is. We want it to move forward, even a little,” he said.
“Somalia must move with whatever strength it has. We have fallen behind the world. The way we live and the way we function as a state is not something the world can understand.”
The president said his administration wanted to build a regulated multiparty system that would allow Somalis to directly elect their leaders.
“The political system of this country needs work,” he said. “Politics must have rules that protect it. There must be political parties, and the country must have laws to protect that system.”
He added: “We are determined that this country should have political parties, and that the Somali people should be given the opportunity to take part in one-person, one-vote elections. We are determined on that.”
Somalia last held direct national elections in 1969, before a military coup brought Mohamed Siad Barre to power.
Since the collapse of the central state in 1991, the country has largely relied on indirect clan-based elections. Elders and selected delegates choose lawmakers, who then elect the president.
Hassan Sheikh’s government argues that universal suffrage can end closed political bargaining and give ordinary Somalis a direct say in choosing their leaders.
It has pointed to local elections held in Mogadishu in December 2025, the capital’s first one-person, one-vote poll in more than five decades, as evidence that the country can gradually restore direct voting.
‘Room for talks’
Hassan Sheikh said he would negotiate the details of the electoral process, including the type of parties, the voting model, the institutions that would manage the vote, the legal framework and the timetable.
“We can put all of that on the table, and we accept discussion on it,” he said.
But he ruled out a return to indirect elections.
“As for saying we should remain with indirect elections, and that it should be returned to the federal member states and the same people, you know what happened,” he said.
“When there was insecurity, indirect elections were held. But when it is said the Somali people should be given a chance, then suddenly people object.”
The exchange comes at a volatile moment in Somali politics.
The federal government says it wants to complete long-delayed constitutional and electoral reforms and move the country towards direct elections.
Opposition figures say the process lacks consensus and risks deepening divisions while key federal member states remain outside the political framework.
Puntland and Jubaland regional administrations have opposed parts of Mogadishu’s constitutional and electoral agenda, reflecting a broader dispute over federalism, power-sharing and the balance of authority between the central government and regional administrations.
The opposition also accuses Villa Somalia of using constitutional amendments and election reforms to extend the mandate of federal institutions.
Government supporters reject the accusation and say Somalia needs the reforms to end its prolonged provisional political order.
Past crisis
Farmaajo’s criticism has revived scrutiny of his own record.
His four-year mandate expired in February 2021, but delayed elections pushed Somalia into one of its worst political crises in years.
Parliament later approved a two-year extension of his term. The move alarmed international partners, split sections of the security forces and triggered armed confrontations in Mogadishu.
Somali lawmakers later cancelled the extension, and Farmaajo handed Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble responsibility for leading the delayed electoral process.
That history makes Farmaajo’s criticism of Hassan Sheikh’s election agenda especially sensitive. Government supporters accuse the former president of attacking a reform process after presiding over a mandate crisis of his own.
Hassan Sheikh appeared to allude to that period by contrasting his consultation efforts with Farmaajo’s time in office.
He said he gathered political actors in his first year back in power and made clear the direction his government wanted to take.
“We told them that day that we wanted to take the country to one-person, one-vote elections, to build political parties and to fight Al-Shabaab,” he said.
Despite growing pressure from opposition groups, Hassan Sheikh ended with a firm pledge.
“By Allah’s will, the country is going to elections,” he said. “It is going to one-person, one-vote elections.”
