Sharmarkee’s parliamentary self-defeat read as a magnanimous political gesture

Evidence

My friend Ali was pro-Italian during the trusteeship, then he joined SYL, became a minister in the previous government, and then I removed him from that post. He has been a yes-man all his life, and his chance to say no today was betrayed by his yes habit. Since my government’s fate depends on his vote, I want the president of the chamber to count Ali’s vote as negative, so he could be liberated today. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 749