Somali MPs in 1967 drafted a bill paying deposed colleagues 24,000 shillings

Evidence

Such audacity was on display in January 1967 when parliament began to discuss a bill that would give MPs who failed to get reelected 24,000 shillings: … In the National Assembly they are discussing a law initiated in parliament … that is aimed at obtaining a payment of 24,000 shillings for each of them who is not reelected in case of new election. I do not yet know if the enormity is limited to the payment or if there are also other “instances” in the law, but I remember that initially the “enlightened” Hon. Giudicino had sketched the law for completely different ends from that of the payment: pensions, an increase in the daily allowance for foreign and interior missions, tokens of presence, indemnities for lodging, these were the currents running through the project! There is no doubt that those “worthy representatives of the people” will approve the payment, but what will I do? There are those who delude themselves that I will not have the courage to ask for a rediscussion and deliberation, because of the upcoming presidential election, but they are making a big mistake if they think about me that way. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 935

Categorization

• XREF: Osman defying a self-dealing MP bill echoes the systemic legislative venality that fed the 1969 coup and eventual collapse of democracy.