Huge rally held in Mogadishu earlier today in support of proposed quota of representatives in Somalia’s Upper House of parliament of Benadir province.
All main roads in the capital city of Somalia were blocked by huge numbers of protesters earlier today including the famous Makka al–Mukarama highway at the heart of the city.
Hundreds of people almost all the districts in Mogadishu’s city have attended this local government organized demonstration in the capital in support of seven parliamentarians for Mogadishu’s Benadir region in the Upper House of Somalia’s parliament.
In the meantime, huge numbers of Somali police officers were deployed in the vicinity to tighten the security.
The protesters were marching and chanting slogans demanding greater political representation in the Upper House of parliament and have its power sharing system of the country.
Somalia has a bicameral parliament-Lower and Upper House of parliament.
The Lower House is based on representation of clans through out the country in a clan based power sharing political system but the upper house of parliament has been based on Federal Member States representation.
Somalia’s constitution does not give Mogadishu a status of Federal Member State but the constitution says the capital city of the Federal republic of Somalia is Mogadishu.
The status of the capital Mogadishu should be determined in the constitutional review process and the two houses of Somali Federal parliament shall enact a special law with regards to this issue.
Nevertheless, the regional officials and community leaders in attendance of the rally have called for the country’s president and parliament to heed the capital city get political representation and address the grievances of its residents.
