Over a hundred Somali deputies sought ministerial posts within one year.

Evidence

Ambassador Andrew Lynch of the United States reported, [The prime minister said,] “There is an old saying … ‘according to which the Government is a mirror of the parliament from which it is drawn.’ Moreover, the Parliament should respect the wishes of the people who have elected it. Therefore, to reduce the number of Ministries it is first necessary to reduce the ambitions of the deputies. That can happen only if the office of Minister and Undersecretary are considered not as a personal prerogative, worse yet as a source of profit, but simply as an honor and responsibility. I hope that some such miracle may take place.” [Prime Minister Sharmarkee added] that during his year as Prime Minister no less than 106 deputies had asked for appointment to Government office. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 612

[The prime minister said,] “There is an old saying … ‘according to which the Government is a mirror of the parliament from which it is drawn.’ Moreover, the Parliament should respect the wishes of the people who have elected it. Therefore, to reduce the number of Ministries it is first necessary to reduce the ambitions of the deputies. That can happen only if the office of Minister and Undersecretary are considered not as a personal prerogative, worse yet as a source of profit, but simply as an honor and responsibility. I hope that some such miracle may take place.” [Prime Minister Sharmarkee added] that during his year as Prime Minister no less than 106 deputies had asked for appointment to Government office. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 612

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the patronage-driven parliament dynamics documented in earlier chapters of this book.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 612