Governance & Institutions
Government effectiveness, institutional development, public financial management, accountability and state-building.
Maarifa Yanayohusiana
Somalia's President Agreed to Hold Elections Within Seven Months. He Would Not Say His Own Job Was One of Them.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud agreed on 1 September to hold 'Federal Government elections' within seven months and accepted part of the opposition's demands, according to reporting on the terms of a deal reached after renewed engagement by international partners. He also rewrote the deal's language before signing: mediation became 'facilitation,' and no wording commits the presidency itself, as opposed to elections in general, to that seven-month window. The concession follows a March constitutional amendment that let Mohamud claim his term now runs to May 2027, a claim the opposition rejected outright after US- and UK-brokered talks collapsed in Mogadishu's Halane compound in mid-May, and after which opposition leaders declared him no longer Somalia's legitimate president. In the same week as the September deal, heavily armed Macawiisley fighters seized voter-registration centres in Beledweyne and mortars were fired near the airport ahead of a visit by Hirshabelle's state president, a local flashpoint over an election whose legitimacy is being contested in almost exactly the language Mohamud's own national opponents use against him.
3 September 2026
Somalia's Ruling Party Is Split Over the Galmudug Ruling. One of Its Own MPs Called It 'Oppression.'
Reaction to the Federal Supreme Court's annulment of Galmudug's election has split along lines sharper than government-versus-opposition. Towfiiq's chairman welcomed the ruling; a lawmaker from President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's own JSP called it oppression with no transparency. Analysts note the court never explained why the standard it applied to Galmudug differs from the one it used to approve Southwest State's and Hirshabelle's elections earlier this year, one of which followed federal forces physically removing a resistant regional president. The ruling also lands five weeks after Quad+1 mediation between the government and opposition collapsed entirely.
26 August 2026
Rigathi Gachagua Just Declared 'Gachagua Is King,' Not Kingmaker. A Court Still Hasn't Settled Whether He Can Run.
Rigathi Gachagua, Kenya's impeached former deputy president, used a 25 August event at his Democracy for Citizens Party's Nairobi headquarters to reject calls that he play kingmaker for the 2027 opposition, telling reporters 'Rigathi is not a kingmaker. Gachagua is king.' The same day, Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan defected from former President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party to join DCP, declaring his own presidential ambition. Both moments unfolded while Gachagua's legal eligibility to run at all remains unresolved: the High Court upheld his impeachment on 8 June but found the Senate violated his right to a fair hearing, awarding him Sh50 million in damages, and both he and the Senate have since appealed different halves of that ruling to the Court of Appeal, with no hearing date yet set.
26 August 2026
Somalia's Supreme Court Just Threw Out Galmudug's Election Results. The Party That Won Them Runs the Federal Government.
Somalia's Federal Supreme Court ruled on 24 August 2026 that Galmudug's 30 July combined election for the House of Representatives and District Councils did not comply with the constitution or the Electoral Law, and that its results therefore have no legal standing. The court ordered the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to hold a new, lawful election as soon as reasonably possible, while directing that current officeholders remain in place until then. The nullified vote was the one in which President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's Justice and Solidarity Party won 63 of 189 seats and was accused by the runner-up Towfiiq Party of manipulating the count.
24 August 2026
Ruto Accused His Predecessor of Bankrolling the Opposition. Uhuru's Answer Came at a Dead Vice President's Memorial.
President William Ruto has repeatedly accused retired President Uhuru Kenyatta of bankrolling Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and other opposition figures ahead of Kenya's 2027 general election, telling audiences he is 'not scared' of the challenge. Sifuna says Ruto has admitted under pressure that his only source for the claim is media reports. Uhuru broke his silence on 23 August at the memorial service for former Vice President Kijana Wamalwa in Kitale, denying he is a 'sponsor,' saying he has no interest in any government seat, and warning against political intimidation ahead of the vote.
24 August 2026
Galmudug's New Parliament Hasn't Been Elected Yet. Somalia's President Already Named Its Next Leader.
Galmudug held its first direct one-person-one-vote elections for local councils and state parliament on 30 July. But the presidency itself, chosen indirectly by that same parliament, was effectively settled weeks earlier when the ruling party anointed a single candidate and cleared the field of internal challengers.
18 August 2026
A Journalist Spent 39 Days in Somali Intelligence Custody Over a Facebook Post About the Man Whose Militia Later Fought the Army in Baidoa
Xogbile Media founder Mascuud Warsame was held for 39 days without charge after NISA accused him of being critical of Southwest State's new leadership. His detention, over content linked to ousted president Laftagareen, came weeks before Laftagareen-aligned forces clashed with federal troops in Baidoa.
18 August 2026
Turkey Is Mediating Somalia's Political Crisis. It Also Holds the Country's Oil Rights and Sends the Jets.
A Turkish intelligence delegation held talks with Somalia's opposition at former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's residence this week, three months after Turkish F-16s flew low over Mogadishu on the first day of anti-government protests and two years after Ankara secured exclusive rights to explore Somalia's offshore oil. FIKIR Institute examines what it means for a mediator to also be the federal government's principal financier, arms supplier and business partner.
16 August 2026
Over a Million People Are Displaced in Mogadishu. The Government Is Selling the Land Under Them.
More than 1.1 million people are internally displaced across roughly 2,500 sites in Mogadishu, many on public land now being sold or reclaimed for private development. FIKIR Institute examines the evidence behind the land-sale allegations, the government's defence, and what the practice means for whichever administration inherits Somalia's land records next.
15 August 2026
Somalia's Mandate to Govern Expired in May. In August, Its Troops Retreated From a City It Claims to Rule.
Federal-backed forces have withdrawn from northern Galkayo after a Puntland security crackdown, the latest sign that Somalia's unresolved legitimacy dispute is hardening into parallel authority on the ground rather than staying a dispute confined to paper.
11 August 2026
A New Speaker, a Message to Donors: Reading the Politics Behind Somalia's Speaker Election
Somalia's House of the People elected a new speaker today, months after the chamber's own four-year term had technically lapsed. The smooth, unopposed vote is being used by the presidency to signal to donors and diplomats that the government retains cohesion and legitimacy for another year.
10 August 2026
Building Stronger Public Institutions in Somalia
Institutional capacity, not funding alone, remains the central constraint on effective governance reform in Somalia.
3 August 2026