JSP: A Briefcase Political Party and Hassan Sheikh’s Political Choir
Anwar Abdifatah Bashir. PhD. Candidate in International Studies at the University of Nairobi, and the Executive Director, East African Institute for Peace and Governance
Every democracy begins on the inside. Any political party must have democratic practices among its members prior to going public. According to the Cambridge University Press, parties are seen as the most unreliable, corrupt, and self-serving of all governmental and private organizations, as well as incompetent and dishonest. As Demo Finland argues, parties create the government and parliament, direct citizen demands and opinions into political discourse, and provide citizens a chance to take part in decision-making. Somalia, which has never practiced a political party system since 1967, is more complicated than other countries that have been practicing it for many years. Since the Arta Conference (1999-2000), Somalia has been practicing indirect elections based on a 4.5-clan formula. After a quarter of a century, the same debates that were active then are still valid – instability, poverty, grievances, lack of good governance, huge unemployment and others. With all these challenges, still Somalia stands. In 2012, when Somalia shifted from temporary to permanent government at the United Nations, the indirect elections were insisted, and three elections have been performed.
The only benefit of all these indirect elections was that they were perceived as remaining united despite everyone’s concerns, but they never brought about peace, unity, or growth. The majority of the society, especially the intellectuals and the mainstream, have been waiting for so many years to witness that Somalia is shifting from clan-based indirect election to direct universal suffrage. In May 2025, the Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) was launched by the incumbent administration, and elected president Hassan Sheikh was its leader. Many of the laymen and supporters of the current administration in Villa Somalia welcomed and enormous others seemed it as a “briefcase” political party and façade institution for just gearing up for the disputed upcoming election and doesn’t have any foundations and tenets as prerequisites. If we even consider it as an authentic political party, instead of applying “gradualism”, the primary agenda for JSP seems to be resource- capturing institution. More specifically, the way JSP and its leader managed the so-called election in the Southwest administration, by unseating its president Abdiaziz Laftagareen and imposing the handpicked Aden Madobe as his successor through manipulation and power, was weird and dumbfounding. JSP is fundamentally entrenching division within the society. In its second rally in Galmudug administration, its members have been famously and publicly campaigning that the country has two political parties – JSP and Alshabaab. In other rhetoric, they told the local community if they don’t give the votes to JSP, Alshabaab will take over their areas. This kind of mobilization and campaign lacks civility. This created what scholars describe as a “bifurcated power structure where institutional impartiality is supplanted by coercive centralization of power the system has transformed political competition into a zero-sum game, fueling cycles of horrific campaigns and giving insurgencies a legitimate political party in the country. The evidence suggests a trajectory toward deepening fragmentation, escalating the Southwest conflict, and potentially violent state disintegration.
Since the alleged election in the federal member states of the Southwest and the ongoing, uncontested election campaign in Galmudug, the fundamental inconsistencies of the system have become more obvious.
Jubbaland and Puntland: Between ostracization and competitive sovereignty
Since the outdated power-adjacent government engaged in isolating the first federal member states due to their rejection of becoming absolutely loyal to Villa Somalia, both FMs showcased a degree of self-rule. In December 2024, the Hassan-Hamza administration launched an offensive strategy against the Jubbaland administration from different directions – air, sea and infantry – where finally the federal forces faced a total loss. President Hassan’s rule is a colossal national embarrassment. Since then Hassan’s administration has been hemorrhaging members.
Home Front First
Hassan Sheikh’s outdated administration has been deploying troops to Puntland and Jubbaland to destabilize, while the near-front-Cowswayne, El Buur and other areas in Hirshabelle and Galmudug federal member states are controlled by Alshabaab. This has evidenced how Hassan’s Trojan-Heir political agenda is beyond imagination and full of hallucinations.
In a country like Somalia, which is recuperating from the mayhem of the civil war, there is a need for “transitional justice” and “good governance” in order to move forward. But what the Hassan Sheikh administration is doing can further tear apart the Somalis. This system tends to democratization of corruption, nepotism, clientelism, political patronage, rent-seekers and all forms of mismanagement. If Somalia is lucky enough, it survives from this relentless and ruthless administration which remains seated after the expiration of its mandate.
The uncertainty for the upcoming election is the most painful reality!
