Kasmaal/ Mogadishu :A number of Somali lawmakers have demanded an apology from U.N. Special Envoy Nicholas Kay for allegations that some MPs had been bribed in order to influence their vote in a no-confidence vote on Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed.

“It is an insult to the Somali Parliament,” MP Dalha Omar told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

“Kay is implicating that Somali MPs can be used to manipulate the future of this country. This is untrue,” he said.

“Yes, we may be facing challenges within the government but we also have ways to deal with that. Kay’s approach was more of interference by an outsider,” Dalha said.

The issue is likely to be tabled in the Somali Parliament on Tuesday.

Lawmaker Ali Nur, for his part, called on the Somali government to officially write a protest letter to the U.N. over the statements.

“Kay’s remarks were careless,” Nur said.

“What Somali MPs want is for Kay to apologize to not only the Somalia Parliament but to the Somali people too. The U.N. envoy may be having a hidden agenda on Somalia,” he said.

Somalia has recently seen infighting between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and his prime minister.

On Sunday, Kay said that the infighting in the Somali government was having a cost on the “functioning of the federal institutions and Somalia’s state and peace building goals.”

He further said that he had received allegations that some Somali MPs had been bribed in order to influence their votes in case a vote of no confidence is introduced in Parliament against the prime minister.

The Somali president fell out with his prime minister over a cabinet reshuffle last month. Two ministers, who are close allies to the President, were moved to less privileged portfolios

In an apparent reaction to Kay’s allegations, the Somali President called on the international community to respect Somalia’s sovereignty.

“While I appreciate the concerns of the international community the best way to support Somali leaders and institutions is to respect and allow them to resolve their differences  through legitimate means and within the existing and maturing institutions,” Mohamud said in a statement availed to AA on Monday.

Last year, former premier Abdi Shirdon was removed in a no-confidence vote that followed differences between him and the President over the formation of the cabinet.

Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

The country appeared to inch closer to stability after government troops and African Union forces – deployed in the country since 2007 – drove the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab group from most of its strongholds.

Kasmaal Information Center/Mogadisho/Somalia