Mogadishu (PP Editorial ) — At the Villa Somalia mosque today President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made a distinction between a constitution conceived outside Somalia and a constitution formulated in Somalia. He described the draft (provisional) of the federal constitution as a project that foreigners have formulated and over which a lot of money was spent, “a mashruuc (a [never-ending] project)”. President Mohamud misstated the history of the draft federal constitution. The provisional draft constitution is not a foreign imposition. He said that the new constitution will be amended within the borders of Somalia. He claimed that the responsibility to make amendments to the draft constitution “lies with the bicameral legislature”.
His speech reflected a sad resignation to the fact that he had lost sight of the most pressing issue bearing on the sovereignty of Somalia: the illegal maritime Memorandum of Understanding between Somaliland Administration and Ethiopia. President Mohamud knows that the MPs and Senators of the bicameral legislature were selected, and are not accountable to the constituencies’ they represent. Some of them, particularly MPs and Senators who represent Somaliland Administration constituencies, cannot visit areas controlled by the Somaliland government for fear of being persecuted or prosecuted.
As the former Somalia President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said yesterday in Mogadishu “a constitution will not have legal validity without national consensus.” In 2021 President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, then a presidential candidate, objected to the term extension for President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. The control of the bicameral legislature by the executive branch of the government in Somalia is a political fact that motivated those who opposed the term extension. President Hassan insists that the same bicameral legislature will make consequential constitutional decisions without extensive consultations. If he presses on with this uncalled for plan he will have taken a decision that will undo the progress made in building institutions in Somalia since 2000. The fact that MPs and Senators can cowed into voting for constitutional amendments bill sponsored by Villa Somalia is enough to expose the unpresidential sentiments of President Hassan who views Somalia as a personal fiefdom. The inability to take the Federal Government of Somalia to task for agreements such as the defence pact with Ethiopia in December 2023 on maritime security, among other areas of cooperation, shows the pliancy of the bicameral legislature.
In Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland State of Somalia, a national consultative conference will take place to forge an alliance against the capture of the bicameral legislature by Villa Somalia. Only MPs and Senators who are accountable to their constituencies and who secured the privilege to represent voters through votes can vote on constitutional issues when Somalia conducts one person, one vote elections.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is putting his political goals ahead of the national interest. In 2013 Nicholas Kay, the former UNISOM chief, said that Somalia was a fragile country, not a failed state. The bicameral legislature is based on trust, not sound constitutional rules because Somalia is still grappling the legacy of state collapse chief among them being inter-clan mistrust, dispossession (more than 60% of government properties — offices, hospitals, schools etc – in Mogadishu are occupied by armed squatters; houses have been built on unplanned lands in all districts of Mogadishu).
Last week, the Federal Government for Somalia faced three setbacks: troops retreated from Villages in Mudug that Al-shaabaab had retaken; clashes in Beledweyne caused a violent split within Hirshabelle State, and the attack on SYL Hotel laid bare the extent to which Al-shabaab can still attack heavily guarded places in downtown Mogadishu. Hamza Barre, the Prime Minister of Somalia, today at an Iftar event, said that in the aftermath of the SYL Hotel bombing by Al-Shabaab people had complained of losing pens or jewellery. “This is a sign of improved security. No one is crying over the bodies of slain relatives” he added. A government that does not understand the enormity of political and security risks to the polity is a threat to the national interest of Somalia. Villa Somalia should never be allowed to use the bicameral legislature as a tool to tamper with the draft federal constitution.
© Puntland Post, 2024
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