This gives the parliament the power to depose a sitting prime minister. But it is ambiguous as to what happens to his cabinet. If a sitting prime minister is voted out of office through a parliamentary motion, it should also by extension be a vote on the cabinet; as the vote is a referendum on the ineffectiveness of the present government. At least that is what I believe is assumed by the failure to mention the cabinet. I believe the constitution views the Prime Minister and his cabinet as one entity once they are voted in. I believe this because in the case of a vote of confidence in the same article but on the point before it, it clearly says:Article 69 The Powers of the House of the People of the Federal Parliament
Section 2:
(e) To carry out a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister and his deputy or deputies by a simple majority vote of the total members (50% +1) to be conducted by means of a show of hands;
In the vote of confidence the cabinet is clearly included, as the Prime Minister is first elected, then the Council of Ministers are subsequently elected after being appointed by the Prime Minister. But there is no case in the constitution in which the Council of Ministers are voted out through a vote of no confidence and the Prime Minister stays.(d)To give a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, and in government projects, to be conducted by a simple majority vote of the total members(50%+1) by means of a show of hands to the Prime Minister and members of the Council of Ministers;
Therefore, I conclude that if the Prime Minister is voted out through a vote of no confidence, the council of ministers will also be voted out. This will leave Somalia without a government until the President appoints a new Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister appoints a new Council of Ministers.
Part 2:
We all know how long it took the President to appoint the Prime Minister. In a bid to get consultation from a number of regions and a variety of groups, it took the President 26 days (Sept-10 through Oct-6) of the allotted 30 days. All this in a bid for the President to find a Prime Minister in which they would both avoid the pitfalls that plagued the last governments. And then it took nearly the same amount of time for the Prime Minister to appoint 10 ministers. A total of two months in which the government was not technically functioning. If the Prime Minister is voted out, and the same process is applied (assuming the President doubles his previous efforts to find an even better candidate), it could be until February until a new government is appointed. But that does not work with the schedule of the Parliament that will go into a three month recess come January. So it could be well into 2014 before we have a fully functioning government.
This comes at a time when Somalia is preparing to meet the requirements stipulated in 'The Deal'. One asks, is a vote of no confidence the right move now? Of course the President in the event the Prime Minister is voted out, could subsequently appoint a new PM that will appoint a full cabinet all before the general recess of the Parliament. Though this could have profound political ramifications for the President, that could undermine his political capital and his government.
Conclusion:
My conclusion is to ask, is this the path the President wants to take? Wouldn't the resignation of the Prime Minister be better than a Vote of No Confidence. If so, has the President been pursuing the later in an attempt to get the desired former?
