Fahad Yassin, the Director of National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), has taken over control of HirShabelle administration’s election file.
Yassin reportedly sent one of his personal secretaries to Jowhar, the administrative capital of HirShabelle, a few days ago.
HirShabelle was expected to submit its list of representatives to the federal polls body to Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble by October 20.
Puntland is the only semiautonomous region and one of the Federal Member States (FMS) to have submitted its list to Roble.
By taking charge of HirShabelle’s election file, it is not clear whether Yassin wants to inspect the region’s choice of members to the federal polls body.
In September, FMS and the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) signed a deal allowing the formation of federal polls body to take charge of the upcoming elections in the country.
Each region was to appoint two representatives to the electoral body and two other individuals to the disputes resolution committee.