Hiiraan Online
Thursday February 15, 2018
Mohamud Abdullahi Siraji was elected as an MP from Kismayo. His younger brother Abbas Siraji was killed last year but a SNA soldier. FILE PHOTO
Mogadishu (HOL) - The brother of a slain minister has been elected as a Member of Parliament from Kismayo.
Mohamud Abdullahi Siraji, the brother of former Public Works Minister Abbas Abdullahi Siraji was easily elected to fill his brother's seat, winning 50 of a possible 51 votes.
His competitor Fardowsa Hussein failed to garner a single vote. The only vote not attributed to Siraji was a spoilt ballot.
The current Minister for Public Works Sadaq Abdullahi Abdi pulled out of the race.
31-year-old Abbas Abdullahi Siraji - the youngest Somali minister in the Somali cabinet's history - was shot dead at the front gates of Villa Somalia by soldiers who were escorting then Auditor General, Nur Farah. The soldiers began firing at Mr. Siraji as his car approached the checkpoint leading to the compound. A source close to the investigation said that Nur Farah’s bodyguards were suspicious of the vehicle carrying Abbas Siraji and mistook the Minister for a suicide bomber.
A military court in Mogadishu sentenced Ahmed Abdullahi Abdi (Aided), 29, to death over the killing of the Somali cabinet minister. He was subsequently killed by firing squad.