Garowe Political Ban Draws Parallels to Somalia’s Military Rule Era

[Deeq A.]

Mayor Abdulkadir M. Mohamud Geddi addresses the media in Garowe following his controversial ban on political gatherings.

Garowe (PP Editorial) — Abdulkadir M. Mohamud Geddi, the Mayor of Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland State of Somalia, has today issued a ban on all political meetings in the city. His directive, which the Puntland Ministry of Interior has not contested, contravenes Articles 14 and 15 of the Puntland Constitution, which guarantee freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. These rights may only be suspended under a declared state of emergency, as outlined in Article 29.

The Mayor also instructed hotels in Garowe not to host any group intending to hold a political gathering. His ban makes no exception even for officially recognised political parties established following the controversial 2023 constitutional amendments.

This move lends credence to critics who argue that Puntland’s democratisation process has been superficial, serving only to entrench a one-man rule facilitated by a flawed constitution that centralises power in the hands of the President.

The Mayor’s order could be seen as tantamount to suspending the Puntland Constitution, an echo of Somalia’s pre-1991 military regime, which scrapped the civilian constitution after the 1969 coup.

Ironically, Puntland’s Interior Minister, Abdi Farah Said, who once took up arms against dictatorship and fled to Ethiopia in the early 1980s to fight the Somali army, now appears to support constitutional violations to suppress political dissent.

Neither the Office of the Puntland Human Rights Defender nor Puntland’s civil society platform, Puntland Non-State Actors, has commented on what appears to be a deliberate misuse of the Constitution by the current administration.

This contradiction undermines Puntland’s credibility when it accuses the Federal Government of tampering with Somalia’s Provisional Constitution while itself curtailing constitutional freedoms guaranteed to Somali citizens in Puntland State of Somalia. 

© Puntland Post, 2025

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