President William Ruto and the Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Noordin Haji reportedly, earlier this week, failed to prevail upon Ahmed Mohamed Islam, the head of Somalia's Jubaland state, to rejoin the National Consultative Council (NCC) meeting which seeks to address various matters affecting the country such as democracy, security and the threat posed by Al Shabaab.
President Ruto is reported to have on Friday, October 25 held a 2-hour closed-door meeting with Ahmed Mohamed in Eldoret at night at the request of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud geared at having the Jubaland leader rejoin NCC talks. Somali media outlets report that Haji, the NIS Director General was present at the meeting.
The request to have the meeting was made on Monday, October 21, during Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's recent diplomatic visit to Kenya.
During the meeting, Ruto urged Ahmed to consider rejoining NCC talks which commenced earlier this month.
However, despite all their efforts, President Ruto and Haji were not succesful.
According to sources privy to the matter, Ahmed Mohamed Islam was jetted into the country from Kismayo by a plane sent by the Kenyan government.
Ahmed Mohamed Islam popularly known as Ahmed Madobe was installed by Kenya during its 2011 offensive attacks against Al-Shabaab in Kismayo.
During the meeting, Jubaland’s leader adamantly maintained to abstain from the NCC talks unless the Somali President allowed for an indirect vote.
Ahmed Madobe also insisted on the creation of an election committee alongside the federal electoral commission. Unless the two demands were met, the Jubaland leader maintained he would not be a party to the meetings.
Madobe reasoned the indirect vote which basically is anchored on a one-person, one-vote electoral model allows the participation of absent parties including Puntland, in comprehensive discussions.
With the demands, Madobe has signalled to boycott the National Consultative Council’s meetings scheduled to kick off next week in Mogadishu.
It comes in the absence of Puntland and barely a week after Madobe pulled out of the negotiations halting negations which had reached key stages. The negotiations involved the attendance of both federal and regional leaders in a bid to reach a truce between the parties.
