We are not Al-Shabaab! Somalia MPs protest after thorough frisking outside parliament

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Members of Somalia's parliament have accused the government of being "insensitive" after they were subjected to unprecedented frisking on Saturday on their way to the parliament building, terming the procedures as "inhuman and unnecessary".

Security officers attached to the government of Somalia frisked the legislators as they made their way to parliament in what is related to the recent terror attack at Villa Rays Hotel, which left over 15 people dead and several injured according to government statistics.

During Saturday's session, some MPs claimed of being blocked to access the parliament buildings with some blaming security officers for subjecting them to unnecessary bureaucracy which affects their reputation and dignity. There was thorough scrutiny at all gates leading to parliament.

One of the legislators Dahir Amin Jesow, accused the Speaker of Parliament, Adan Madobe, of accepting a letter from the cabinet authorizing security agencies to frisk MPs and their vehicles. He wondered why such measures should be taken without informing House leadership.

"We expected the speaker to defend us from the wrongs of the cabinet since we elected you to defend the honour of the MPs," said MP Jeesow, who insisted that parliament is a distinguished house whose members ought to be respected in the country.

Security at Villa Rays Hotel is said to have been compromised and since then, a thorough audit has been ordered by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, whose administration has vowed to crash the militants who control large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia.

Al-Shabaab has been fighting to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government, but their efforts have never been successful following a crackdown instigated by the federal government of Somalia with the help from the US Africa Command, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] and local militia.

GAROWE ONLINE