In a twitter post published by Aw Hersi, former justice minister of Jubbaland, speaking on a TV program hosted by Somali Cable, he stated that president Farmajo’s chances for re-election are high for the sole reason that his current sitting prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, is not contesting for the office of the president. Hersi argues, to quote, “that the practice of the Somali political culture has been for a long time that no president is re-elected for second term. This has been the case because their prime ministers were also running for the office at the same time.” Unlike his predecessors, “Farmaajo can be an exception with higher bid for re-election for the fact that his Prime Minister Roble is not presidential candidate” he concludes. Resulting extensive online discussion on twitter, a lot believe that publically putting such argument forward, Aw Hersi seems to be questioning the neutrality of the current sitting prime minister as the final person in charge of the elections where he is paving the way for the president’s re-election. On the other side, as Hersi said in a reply of his own tweet, former prime ministers who contested for the office “sabotaged the very who appointed them” again portraying Prime Minister Roble’s appointment and decision not to run for the presidency as a design to re-elect Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo. 

The statement of Aw Hersi is also feeding the “One Round Election” model previously stated by the deputy prime minister. In November 2020, speaking at the launching ceremony of the national curriculum, Mahdi Gullied cited that it’s the year of “One Round” elections. The DPM used the one round elections of Galmudug, South West, and Hirshaballe as a precedent to justify their intention of getting re-elected at federal level. Although the DPM publically renounced this idea, yet this notion still exists within the Farmaajo campaigners and supports.

Few takeaways can be understood from the interview. Aw Hersi, known for his expressed support of #NabadNolol and would-be Farmaajo campaigner, is framing that Roble is paving the way for the re-election of the president. This can be true in number of reasons. First, Aw Hersi might be implying that, if PM Roble has to retain his political position (and could be a deal for his appointment) has no option but to surface the re-election of current administration and make Farmaajo as the only Somalia’s designated survivor. Secondly, since Roble is not contesting, he’s vowed to ensure that the power sharing model remains the same in order to gain political continuity in the near future even against worse odds which is “Farmaajo to fail re-election.” Thirdly, Hersi intentionally ignored the legacy of the former Prime Minister who is contesting the office of the presidency. Recognizing the fact that Kheyre is the longest serving Prime Minister, who Farmaajo himself publically named that he is better than him, Hersi tweet repliers believe “that there are other ways to support Farmajo’s re-election without erasing one’s story and investing a tale of a new one.

In contrary to above implied claim, actions of the prime minster prove otherwise. In the past few days, the practice of Roble resonate political independency and that the PM is acting on his own capacity without the due influence of the office of the president. Although silent, recessive political nature of #NabadNolol draw many options of would-be possible next steps, but one obvious thing to them is that the 2017 patriotism based campaign won’t be a viable option for their bid. Already worsening public image of the current administration, the real question is whether the continued support of Aw Hersi can cause more harm than good?