Hussen timed his purge for parliament’s recess to delay legislative challenge

Evidence

The timing of the announcement was not accidental as parliament was not in session, and this gave the government until late April before legislators could challenge it. Meanwhile, the government prepared a cluster of bills, including the nationalization of retail trade and the dismissal bill, to be submitted to parliament when it reconvened in April. President Osman fundamentally supported the bill. Subsequently, the president received a petition signed by many of the senior people who were made redundant. In their petition the discharged officers claimed that their democratic rights as well as due process had been violated by the government: “Every citizen shall have the right to address written petitions to the President of the Republic the National Assembly and the Government. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 797