Friday, March 29, 2024
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Somalia: The President should just follow the provisional constitution

By Mohamed A. Hussein

The outcome of the recent consultative meeting held in Mogadishu with President Hassan Sheikh, the leaders of the regional administration and members of international community on September 19, 2015, was basically a disaster, despite the Government claiming that an agreement has been reached.

It was reported that within the first two days, Sheikh Sharif, President of the Southwest State, realized that there was no real agenda to be discussed and the only thing one could expect to come out of the meeting was that Puntland and Federal Governments would point a finger at each other at the end, which led him to decide instead to go to the Hajj. On the other hand, the Government issued a press release after the meeting was concluded . It stated that there was an agreement on how to proceed with the election in 2016. Another meeting to discuss this further, which is expected to be attended by regional leaders and others, was scheduled in October.

A day later, Puntland Government released a statement that contradicts everything in the Government’s memorandum. It further stated that it did not participate in the meeting from the first day and proposed that the only way forward is by following the constitution.

Muqdishu_ Shirka wadatashiga
The consultative meeting held in Mogadishu

The President chaired the meeting for the first two days, probably achieving his goal of photos ops to prove the meeting was held in Mogadishu, to show to the international community. He also decided to leave the scene to attend the funeral of a son of one of the sheikhs of the UAE. After the President left, it was not clear who would chair the meeting. At the end, both the prime minister and the speaker of parliament could be seen sitting next to each other where the President’s seat had been, adding confusions.

All of this proves that there was no real workable agenda for the meeting, and rightfully most Somalis were disappointed of the outcome.The Somali people are tired of politics and the usual rhetoric. They expected that a meeting of such magnitude and paramount importance would be another opportunity for the Somali leaders to produce a road map to end the current Government and alternative agendas for 2016, but Nicholas Kay and the president had a different agenda.Their interest is not in finding a long-term solution for Somalia. They were only interested in the short-term goal of  a lip service , selling to the the international community that everything is progressing in Somalia as intended, especially when they are about to report on progress made since the last meeting in front of the Security Council in New York this month. To them, this meeting was a huge success since they can show the Security Council that they at least were able to get all the leaders in one room and they have agreed a follow-up meeting in October.

It has become a common practice, well known to those who follow Somali politics that any time Nicholas Kay and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud are expected to report in front of the Security Council on the progress the the country, they rush to schedule a big event, whether it is the recognition of an interim regional administration or another meeting between the Government and other regional states.

This happened when Jubaland, Southwest and Galmudug and other meetings were held in Garoowe. All those meetings took place few weeks before an expected meeting in New York. As a result, these gatherings are no more than cosmetics with a sole purpose to mislead the international community on state of affairs of Somalia.

At the opening of the meeting, one would probably be delighted to see all the Somali leaders in one room in Mogadishu, but the President’s arrogance can be detected by listening to his opening speech. The President basically told his audience that this meeting was led by Somalia and they should listen to him. He mentioned that this meeting had a Somali-led agenda and he was the leader of the Government and as such, he would be responsible for the outcome, whether it was bad or good. He basically implied and warned those who may think the international community will interfere by saying that the international community were there only as observers.

Muqdishu_ Shirka wadatashiga1The President was elected three years ago to prepare the country for an election based on one man one vote in 2016. He publicly stated that his Government has failed to achieve that goal and as a result, the meeting was arranged to discuss what to do.
However, the biggest disagreement in that meeting was between Puntland and the Federal Government regarding the constitution. The President thinks that since the current constitution is a provisional constitution, he does not need to follow it as it is written. Until the final constitution has been approved by the Somali people, he is free to run the Government as he sees fit.

When the President was asked how he could justify creating Galmudug State, which consists of one and a half districts, which is against the constitution, he responded that the constitution is provisional and it is not the final constitution and all he is trying to do is to create an administration, which is better than not having one.

On the other hand, the leaders of Puntland State are insisting that any state created should be based on the current constitution, until the final constitution has been decided by Somali people.

Many people who want Somali’s problems to end are blaming the lack of a solution on the civil war in Somalia, which has been going on for over 20 years. However, the real solution lies on the Somali leaders to respect and follow the provisional constitution as it is written. Now, is this constitution 100 percent correct? No. And is everyone happy about it? No. However, it is the only rule available and if the President cannot fully embrace this provisional constitution as it is, what assurance do the Somali people have that he will follow the final constitution?

By Mohamed A. Hussein
Email:[email protected]


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