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Somali tribal elders met in Mogadishu this week to protest the meddling of government officials in the parliamentary selection process.

The elders demanded that politicians stop trying to influence who they appoint to parliament, which is scheduled to elect the country's president on August 20th.

Several deadlines to submit the names of parliament members have already passed, and the elders are complaining that political interference is slowing down the selection process considerably.

Technical Selection Committee (TSC) chairman Abdullahi Osman told Sabahi on Friday (August 10th) that the elders had thus far submitted 184 names to the committee out of the 275 total, and that the vetting process would begin Saturday.

The 184 number represents a quorum for Somalia's new parliament to begin its legislative duties.

The TSC, charged with overseeing the selection of members of the new parliament, extended the deadline for receiving the names several times.

"Some tribes have provided a list with the names of their representatives for the parliament to the TSC, but other tribes have not yet given the names of their representatives," tribal elder Ali Abdirahman told Sabahi.

Another tribal elder, Ahmed Abdi Alin, said the elders have national and religious duties to fulfil in selecting competent delegates for parliament. "We are determined to choose delegates based on their knowledge and credentials so that the parliament will be able to shoulder its national and legislative responsibilities," he said. "We cannot accept being dictated to by the candidates."

Committee calls for full independence of tribal leaders

"We have received complaints that some politicians are interfering with the selection process," TSC chairman Abdullahi Osman told Sabahi. "We call on politicians and all other parties involved in this intervention to end such behaviour and all forms of meddling to allow the selection process to take its correct course without any influence or hindrances," he added.

Osman called on politicians interfering in the selection process to give tribal leaders full independence "so as not to undermine the selection process, and to garner the trust of the Somali people".

He warned that such meddling might affect the integrity of the selection process and could also start a new conflict among the various Somali tribes and clans.

Osman also called on tribal elders to maintain a high standard of transparency and integrity in their selection. "When we review records of members of the new parliament, we will cancel the nomination of any member who is proven to be involved in bribery to get a seat in parliament or those that have not followed the legal procedures in place."

The agreements reached at the Garowe conference state that members of the new parliament are to be selected by traditional tribal elders without any interference from the signatories to the Roadmap or other politicians who have political ambitions.

The formation of the new parliament is a key step to complete the final tasks of ending the transitional period on schedule. After tribal elders complete the selection of members of the new parliament, the selected lawmakers will elect their speaker, his two deputies and finally the president.

Only ten days remain to end the remaining tasks on time.