Annex 5.1: Corruption during the 2012 end of transition process
1. The Monitoring Group has obtained eyewitness testimonies and documentation of wide
spread manipulation, financial bribes and threats occurring before and during the September
2012 Parliamentarian and Presidential elections.1
Such manipulation of the elections resulted in
individuals linked to the previous regime, and a number of warlords, being returned to
positions of power, and in special interest groups capturing the political environment. The
Monitoring Group has also obtained information of large-scale financial contributions from
Gulf States that were used by principal candidates to buy political support during various
stages of the elections (see below).
2. Outgoing officials of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), from the majority
clans, were able to steer the electoral process from its inception in order to reinforce their own
power bases.2
In particular, former TFG President, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (Hawiye clan),
former TFG Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas (Darod clan) and former TFG
Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden (Rahanwein / Ashraf but related to the DigilMirifle clan) manipulated the registration of traditional elders who would select Members of
Parliament (MPs), and who in turn would select the Speaker of Parliament and President of
Somalia. Key figures in this process also included former Minister of Interior, Abdisamad
Mo’allin Mohamud, who controlled the distribution of identification cards to registered elders,
and Khadija Diriye Mohamed, who was on the Electoral Commission3
and bribed a number of
elders to influence the MP selection process.
3. The Monitoring Group has also obtained first hand accounts of threats issued against
members of the Technical Selection Committee (TSC), the UN-backed4
vetting committee
tasked with assessing eligibility of electoral candidates,5
as well as eyewitness testimonies of
candidates engaged in bribing and threatening MPs during the selection of the President. In
addition, presidential candidates used financial contributions from the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and Qatar to buy MP votes during the presidential election.
Manipulation of elders’ registration
4. The corruption began with the exclusion of the majority of genuine elders in advance of
the MP selection process.6
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and Abdiweli
Mohamed Ali tasked cabinet members in the TFG to register elders. However, only 135 of the
traditional elders were registered by the outgoing TFG.7
The Monitoring Group has received
testimonies that TFG officials in charge of selecting elders routinely made deals with such
elders to pick MPs who would be amenable to the interests of the outgoing TFG principals. In
many cases, the elders chosen were considered imposters by their local communities.8
5. The Monitoring Group has obtained eyewitness testimony of the manipulation of the
elders process by senior officials in the TFG. In particular, the former Interior Minister
Abdi’samad Mohamud Ali exercised the final decision over the nomination of elders through
his control of the production of identification documents for elders.9
The Monitoring Group has
obtained first hand testimony detailing the selection by Abdisamad Mohamed Ali of an
Al-Shabaab-aligned elder who in turn used his position as an elder of the Hawiye / Habar Gidr
/ Ayr clan to select Abdi’samad Mohamed Ali as an MP. The elder chosen by Abdisamad
Mohamed Ali was Ugas Abdi Dahir, a former ARS-Asmara official and agent of Eritrea who
has been named in a previous Monitoring Group report.10
6. The Monitoring Group has also gathered evidence of the role of some of the principal
TFG leaders in bribing elders. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali organized the
appointment of a false elder to the Gadabursi / Haber Afan clan, Sultan Abeeb Aw Muhumed.
He received 8000 USD from loyal MPs in return for their names being submitted to the TSC.11
The Monitoring Group has also received information that Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed gave
50,000 USD to a Darod / Warsangeli elder for his support.12
7. Furthermore, on 9 August 2012, the elder, Suldan Said Abdisalam, submitted a list of
five MPs to the TSC. However, of this list only one name, Dahir Haji Gele Farah, was
appointed as an MP (see annex 5.1.a). According to sources, the other four names were
replaced by individuals who, like Dahir Haji Gele, paid Suldan Said Abdisalam for their MP
seats. Additionally, he selected them on condition that they would vote for Abdiweli, who had
also paid him.13
Threats to elders
8. Since the 2012 election, five elders who participated in the selection of Parliamentarians
have been murdered. The family of one elder stated that he had received several death threats
from unknown individuals.14 Al-Shabaab had previously threatened to assassinate any elder
found to have participated in the election process.15
9. According to TSC members, one elder who did not support Sheikh Sharif was
kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to fill out a list of MPs in favour of Sheikh Sharif to be
submitted to the TSC.16
Manipulation of Members of Parliament selection
Threats and obstruction of the Technical Selection Committee
10. Once the traditional elders were identified, a 27 member TSC was appointed in June
2012 to evaluate the individuals put forward by those elders for MP seats.17 The registered
elders were required to submit two individuals for each seat.18
11. TSC members, who had the right to reject the nomination of MPs by elders on the
grounds of their prior history, were routinely harassed and threatened during the process of
vetting candidates submitted by the committees of elders. TSC members have reported to the
Monitoring Group that they received threats following their decision to veto the election of
27 MPs by elders on the grounds that many of these candidates had been warlords with
histories of having committed grave human rights violations. Notwithstanding TSC objections,
at least 17 of these 27 candidates were returned as MPs following a decision by Chief Justice
Aideed Abdullahi Ilko Hanaff to veto the objections of the TSC (see annex 5.1.b).19 According
to several sources each warlord paid 20,000 USD to the Chief Justice to rule in their favour.20
TSC members report that Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden supported the return of these
candidates.21
Threats to Members of Parliament
12. Members of Parliament resided in secure hotels near Kilometre 4 in Mogadishu due to
threats to government officials from Al-Shabaab. The hotel bill for each MP was covered by the
TFG and guaranteed by a letter. As such, security became a tool to leverage compliance from
MPs. A source told the Monitoring Group that one MP who was at odds with Sharif Hassan
Sheikh Aden was evicted from his hotel.22
13. When all else failed, obstruction and the use of physical force was employed to prevent
uncooperative MPs who had been approved by the TSC from attending the MP swearing in
ceremony. One MP was forcibly taken out of line as she attempted to enter a bus bound for the
swearing in ceremony. She walked to the airport, where she was physically prevented from
entering to be sworn in as an MP.23
Joint Parliamentarian complaint
14. On 10 August 2012, a joint complaint letter was drafted by Parliamentarians, clan elders
and intellectuals from mainly Dir and marginalized minority clans condemning the election
process as corrupt, and highlighting several examples of bribery and corruption (see annex
5.1.c). Many of the individuals who came forward with this complaint were threatened and had
to go into hiding.24 The Parliamentarians attempted to take their complaint to court in late
August 2012, but were denied a hearing by Chief Justice Aideed Abdullahi Ilko Hanaff. Several
sources have identified Chief Justice Aideed Abdullahi Ilko Hanaff as having extracted bribes
in return for filing court cases. In one instance, he is accused of requesting 10,000 USD to file
a case, while the actual filing fee is 100 USD.25
Speaker of Parliament election
15. The Monitoring Group has obtained testimony detailing threats issued by former TFG
Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden during the election of the new speaker of parliament. In
particular, during a clan meeting in Mogadishu in June 2012, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden stated
that he would kill anyone from the Digl-Mirifle clan who would contest the election of the
Speaker of Parliament.26
Presidential election
16. Sources identified Khadija Diriye Mohamed as a key player involved in facilitating
corruption in the election of the President. She was appointed to the Electoral Commission
which received applications for the position of President and created the final ballot. Potential
candidates were required to submit their curriculum vitae, the application and a 10,000 USD
entry fee.27 Four days before the election, she resigned from the Commission, citing conflict of
interest due to her desire to support Sheikh Sharif28 and is accused of stealing the final
presidential ballot to use as a means of bribing MPs.29 She has also been accused of active
involvement in the bribery of elders to manipulate the MP selection process.30
17. Just before the election, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden
hosted an event for MPs at the Palace Hotel in Mogadishu. During this event, numerous MPs
were taken aside and offered bribes for their votes.31 Sources witnessed money being handed
out in exchange for votes, and observed Sharif Hassan personally bringing a suitcase of money
to this event to pay off MPs.32
Financial contributions from abroad
18. The Monitoring Group has obtained evidence that Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden both sourced considerable funds from the United Arab Emirates.33
19. The Monitoring Group has also obtained evidence that President Hassan Sheikh’s
entourage were also complicit in bribery. Sources indicate that the President received several
million dollars from Qatar which was used to buy off political support.34 Important carriers of
cash donations from Qatar include Fahad Yasin and Abdi Aynte, two former journalists from
the Doha based news organisation Al-Jazeera. They are now senior figures at the Heritage
Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS), an FGS-aligned think tank in Mogadishu established with
financing from Qatar. Aynte, the director of HIPS, is a prominent member of the
Ala Sheikh political and business association of former TFG President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh
Ahmed. Yasin, an associate of HIPS, is the nephew of Farah Abdulqadir, the current Minister of
State for the Presidency and part of the Damul Jadid political association close to President
Hassan Sheikh. Both Aynte and Yasin are important figures in consolidating cooperation
between Ala Sheikh and Damul Jadid
20. Yasin has been involved in carrying cash donations from Qatar on behalf of President
Hassan Sheikh, according to emails dated 4 March 2012 between Hassan Sheikh and
Abdulkadir Barnamij.
35 Two FGS officials confirm that during the election process, Yasin
carried substantial funds from Qatar to Mogadishu for the campaign of Hassan Sheikh.36 One
source told the Monitoring Group that he was offered 10,000 USD to vote for Hassan Sheikh,
and he was instructed to get into a vehicle with the current Minister of State for the Presidency
Farah Abdulqadir to be paid.37
21. Overall, given the stakes, corruption in the 2012 elections was unprecedented in scale of
funds and numbers of individuals paid for their support.38 In many ways, the process of ending
the transitional period in Somalia and the use of public and private resources to obtain power
helped recycle the patterns and practices of mismanaging funds of past administrations into the
new Government (see annex 5.2).
