MOGADISHU, Somalia — A parliamentary committee has reviewed procedures for filling vacant government positions and recruiting civil servants, amid a wider debate in Somalia over merit-based hiring and the legal authority responsible for managing the federal civil service.
The House of the People’s Social Services Development Committee met with officials from the National Civil Service Commission at Villa Hargeysa in Mogadishu. The delegation from the commission was led by its chairman, Hassan Abshirow Mohamed.
The meeting focused on how vacancies in the federal civil service are identified, advertised and filled, as well as the procedures governing the recruitment of new government employees.
The committee said the National Civil Service Commission holds the executive responsibility for recruitment and filling civil-service vacancies under the applicable laws and regulations, while Parliament’s role is to provide oversight and monitor whether the process complies with the law.
Lawmakers asked the commission to provide Parliament with details of its recruitment procedures so the committee can carry out its oversight responsibilities.
The discussions come less than two weeks after Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced a major recruitment initiative requiring senior civil-service positions to be filled through open competition based on qualifications, experience, competence and performance. The first phase was scheduled to begin on Sept. 20 and initially focused on departmental directors across federal ministries and government institutions.
However, the House of the People voted on Sept. 23 to annul the prime minister’s directive, with lawmakers raising questions about its legal and procedural basis. Reports said the measure was passed by 136 votes to two, with two abstentions.
The dispute has placed renewed attention on the respective roles of the executive, Parliament and the National Civil Service Commission in managing recruitment within the federal government.
Despite the disagreement over the recent directive, merit-based recruitment remains part of Somalia’s broader public-sector reform agenda. The government’s National Transformation Plan for 2025–2029 calls for professional civil-service management, merit-based recruitment, competency development and performance-based administration, alongside greater use of digital systems in human-resource management.
Recent recruitment notices also show the Civil Service Commission continuing to use merit-based procedures for some positions. In September, the commission advertised an internal merit-based recruitment process for a director-level position and required eligible applicants to apply through its electronic recruitment system.
During Sunday’s parliamentary meeting, committee members emphasized that future recruitment should be based on qualifications, competence, efficiency, fairness and transparency, while remaining within the country’s legal framework.
Committee Chairwoman Nadra Salah Abdi said the committee would continue its oversight of civil-service affairs while respecting the statutory responsibilities of the National Civil Service Commission.
The meeting therefore comes at a sensitive moment for Somalia’s civil-service reform agenda, with institutions seeking to clarify recruitment procedures while the government pursues a broader effort to professionalize the public administration.
For the parliamentary committee, the immediate focus is on ensuring that recruitment procedures are clearly defined, legally grounded and subject to appropriate oversight, while leaving the executive implementation of recruitment to the institution mandated by law.
