Somali lawmakers reject PM's plea to delay vote on cabinet list

Somali lawmakers late Thursday rejected a request by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke to delay a vote on the newly nominated cabinet members.

Some 125 lawmakers, who engaged in a heated debate in parliament, quashed Sharmarke's plea of seeking more time before the debate on the cabinet can be moved in Parliament, though some 52 lawmakers voted in favor of the PM's request.

Sharmarke had earlier asked parliament to put off the motion for debate to Jan. 22, noting that he wanted time to familiarize with the new cabinet and establish a working relationship.

However, the parliamentarians opposed to the request saying they would go ahead with the planned debate on Saturday.

Early this week, over 100 lawmakers had vowed not to endorse the new council of ministers, terming them as failures.

Key ministers in the former cabinet, which was dissolved in December last year, were reinstated, a move that angered many of the legislators.

The move by the prime minister to seek for more time could be seen as a strategy to lobby for more support ahead of the vote. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has endorsed the new cabinet.

Political pundits say the rejection of the request is a big blow to the prime minister who was accused of retaining former ministers in his cabinet line-up. Endi