Why is it necessary to complete the federalization of Somalia?

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By Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein

Whenever a country goes into a deep conflict civil war leaving deep scars in the society, mistrust and rivalry for obtaining their “fair share of power and resources”, it’s usual that the segments of the society run at odds against each other. A prescription is required to cure and overcome those difficulties and normally such prescription includes the changes you see in the bullet points affecting the governance structure and the constitution.


somaliaThe changes introduce Federalism and moving away from unitary style of governance. In attempting to do that, governance in Somalia is restructured and completely overhauled. The changes needed are already realized and some of them need to come into the new Constitution, however they lay a strong foundation for the future of Somalia:

Devolution:

Have their fair share of power and resources through creating their Federal Member States (FMS) that unites with similar FMS of the other segments to form the Federal Republic of Somalia. Each FMS will retain certain powers and other powers will be left exclusively for the Federal Government. There are powers that the Federal Government and FMS share. Government offices and headquarters will not only be placed in Mogadishu but should be dispersed throughout the country.

Proportional representation:

Each state will have a number of members of parliament (MPs) equivalent and/or proportional to the size of its population. The more the population of a certain FMS, the more its MPs in the Federal Parliament (the Lower House or Golaha Shacabka) and in the FMS parliament. The Upper House will contain equal members from each FMS.

Federal Member States (FMS): 
 
It is best to convince Somaliland to become a Federal Member State with a special status; while Puntland, Juba, Asal State (Bay and Bakool), Banaadir (Middle and Lower Shabelle) and Central Somalia (Hiiraan, Galgaduud and Mudug). That is 6 Federal Member States uniting to form Federal Somalia. The names of the emerging FMS are just my personal view (as it stands today) and surely the reality is different!  Khaatumo may emerge ultimately if the quarrel over Khaatumo regions (Sool, Sanaag and Cayn) between Puntland and Somaliland continues.

Demarcation of FMS borders: Borders should be agreed by the states and then demarcated by the Commission of Border Demarcation and then written into the Constitution.

Population Census is a pre-requisite for proportional representation. This allows each FMS to get a number of MPs proportional to the size of its population and fair share of resources based, again, on its population.

Amending the constitution: The constitution will be amended to incorporate the changes introduced into the government structures. The current parliament has to do these amendments.

Getting Somalia ready for a complete democracy: The changes above will strengthen the foundations of democracy in Somalia and by the Year 2016 Somalia is ready for parties to compete in elections.

Parallel to that, building peace and security and defeating Al-Shabaab and delivering the basic services to the public is a must, if Somalia is to meet the above milestones. This means that the capacity of the government should grow within the coming two and half years and the Federal Government should have effective and inclusive relations with the peripheries; i.e the Federal Member States.

Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein
Email; qaadir.abiikar@hotmail.co.uk
WardheerNews contributor
London, UK

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