MOGADISHU (SD) – The joint session of the two houses of the Federal Parliament of Somalia concluded today in uproar and disorder after opposition MPs forcefully opposed the plan to amend five chapters of the country’s Provisional Constitution.

The Speaker of the People’s Assembly, Aden Madobe, failed to officially open the session after MPs opposing the agenda initiated a strong uproar, leading the Speaker to abruptly leave the parliamentary building and close the session.

During the chaos, MPs from both sides engaged in physical confrontations, with the situation becoming uncontrollable. A physical altercation also broke out between the Minister of Security, Fartaag, and MP Hassan Firimbi.

Opposition MPs, who are against amending the Constitution and the alleged term-extension plan attributed to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, clearly expressed their rejection by tearing up the agenda documents for today’s session.

These MPs accused the Presidency and the Speaker of Parliament of attempting to push through constitutional changes lacking popular and parliamentary support.

The opposition MPs succeeded in thwarting today’s planned effort to enact constitutional amendments, which they described as a move to consolidate power and extend terms.

It is expected that opposition MPs will address the media in the coming hours to detail their position and the reasons for opposing the government’s agenda.

When a parliament descends into physical brawls and the Speaker flees the chamber, it signifies a total breakdown of institutional governance. This isn’t political disagreement; it’s institutional collapse. It proves that the fundamental disagreements over the nation’s future (federalism, power-sharing, term limits) are now irreconcilable within the state’s own legal framework. Somalia’s legislature is now a battleground, not a deliberative body.

The opposition’s success in shutting down the session through disruption is a Pyrrhic victory. It stops the government’s agenda but at the cost of paralyzing the state. It demonstrates that the opposition has the numbers and will to make the parliament unworkable, but offers no path forward. This creates a political vacuum where power will increasingly be exercised through extra-parliamentary means—street protests, regional defiance, or worse.

A fistfight between the Minister of Security and an MP is deeply symbolic. The minister responsible for public order is himself engaged in disorder within the heart of the state. It blurs the line between the executive and legislative branches and between political debate and physical violence. It signals that politics has been replaced by raw power struggle.

This parliamentary meltdown is a gift to the “Future Council” (Puntland, Jubaland, opposition). It validates their claim that Mogadishu is tyrannical and that the federal institutions are broken. It will strengthen their resolve to operate as a parallel authority and may encourage them to formally declare the federal parliament illegitimate, taking a major step toward de facto partition.

For international backers like the US, EU, and UN, this is a nightmare. Their entire state-building project is based on functional, legitimate federal institutions. The spectacle of a collapsing parliament, just after the US cut all aid over corruption, proves that project is failing catastrophically. It will force a drastic reconsideration of engagement, potentially accelerating a shift towards dealing with regional actors (like Puntland, Jubaland and the opposition) directly.