Hussen demanded a secret ballot and adjusted cabinet to court Southern support.

Evidence

Hussen was not satisfied with this and demanded a secret ballot from the entire SYL central committee to ensure that there was substance behind the committee’s verdict. While the party work was going on, Hussen also marginally readjusted his cabinet to diffuse political pressure and gain support for the vote without altering his government’s agenda and strategy. Most memorably, Mohamoud Issa Jama, the minister designate of Agriculture in the failed attempt, offered to vacate his post so that more Southerners could be accommodated. He thought such a gesture might mollify many Southern MPs who were upset by Northerners being given disproportionately more cabinet seats in Hussen’s government. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 758