Linking the civil society to the constitution-making process in Somalia workshop
October 14 – 16, 2011. Venue: Lake Naivasha Country Club
National Civic Forum (NCF)
With support from the Henrich Boll Foundation (HBF) and the European Commission (EC), the National Civic Forum (NCF) held a three-day workshop on ‘linking the civil society to the constitution-making process in Somalia workshop’at the Lake Naivasha Country Club between October 14 and 16, 2011.
The participants, which were drawn from members of the Somali civil society including women, youth, academia, diaspora, the media, and other working professionals both in the public and private sectors, have deliberated on a number of issues among them: the genesis of the constitution-making processes in Somalia including the ongoing UN-backed and IFCC-led constitution-making process for Somalia; the findings of four key research studies conducted by Somali researchers, and an alternative roadmap with the issues and priorities facing the Somali people at this critical time of Somalia’s history.
The participants would like to issue the following key messages in this communiqué:
1. The participants thank the National Civic Forum (NCF), HBF and the EC for their generous funding to fund, facilitate and host this three-day conference;
2. In a Somali spirit, the participants call for a complete ceasefire between and among the various Somali actors in Somalia and that all parties should instead engage in dialogue as soon as possible;
3. The participants also believe that the framework of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) provides a window of opportunity to rebuild the Somali state. However, such a framework needs to be improved and built upon. In this case, the participants urge the TFIs to come up witheffective policies and strategies to engage in the following sectors: security, constitution-making, governance, reconciliation, and other issues like human rights, public financial management and public diplomacy;
4. The TFIs and all other Somali stakeholders must reach out each other and at the same time must actively engage in the prioritization, formation, reform, reconstruction and development of various sectors as part of the national re-building processes;
5. The participants thank the IFCC, various constitutional experts and consultants and the donor community for their help in the constitutional-making process. However, there is a need to start an inclusive constitutional-making process that is in line with Somalia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity; in order to achieve a broader Somali ownership process and increase the contributions of the Somali people including ‘Somaliland;’
6. As originally mandated the participants support the view that a referendum is the ideal mode of adopting a Constitution that has been drafted by the Somali people. It is, however, recognized that security and/or other circumstances may not make possible to hold a national referendum in the country before August 2012. In the light of this, the participants strongly recommend that there must be a broad-based Constituent Assembly which should facilitate an amendment process based on the 1960 constitution as a provisional constitutional document for Somalia. This Assembly shall validate this new provisional document so that it can be used by the Somali people between now and when the country is in a better situation to engage in a healthy and more participatory constitutional dispensation. As part of its mandate, the Constituent Assembly must also bring a new parliament made up of a smaller number and more effective parliamentarians and based on a number of agreed qualifications/criteria;
7. As part of the new constitutional dispensation, the participants found out that there is less knowledge of the term and concept of ‘federalism’within the views held by both its proponents and opponents and that there is fear over this form of governance. However, the participants strongly recommend that there must be devolution of power and decentralization of services upto the village level;
8. The participants suggest that there should be a Sharia audit on all future constitutional-making processes including the formation of a commission made up of Somali experts educated in Islamic Sharia and law and that they should advise on the constitutional-making process. This commission should also advise future Somali governments on Sharia-compliance and other judicial issues and matters;
9. The participants also recommend that there is a need to build an inclusive, Somali-owned security sector. As part of this, Somali authorities should utilize locally available resources before asking for external aid and that all Somali security elements must be trained inside Somalia and by one single friendly country. Only senior officers should be sent out for specialist training. The new Somalia should also have a bilateral military/security engagement with this friendly country;
10. On governance, the participants urge that the TFIs and other credible Somali actors to work together on the formation of village, district, and regional administrationsso that there can be devolution of power and decentralization of services up to the village level. The various Somali actors should also set up an ethics committee made up of representatives from the different Somali actors including members of the civil society. The mandate of this ethics committee should audit and investigate all the financial sources, transactions as well as expenditures of past and present transitional governments of Somalia;
11. The participants recommend that ‘Somaliland’ should be fully engaged in all national re-building processes first as an observer but also as a lesson-giver in order to create the beginning of a long-term dialogue process; Some of the lessons ‘Somaliland’ can provide include the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR), locally-owned peace and reconciliation processes and the workings of the electoral processes;
12. The participants would like to share the feeling and worry of the Somali public over the implementation of the roadmap and therefore urge that there should be no more extension for the TFG/TFP and that elections must be held before the end of their term: August 2012;
13. Finally, the participants, once again, thank NCF and its donors, HBF and the EC, for their generous support to fund, facilitate and host this workshop. The participants urge NCF to continue engaging members of the civil society and other Somali actors on various topical issues of national interest so that these issues can be deliberated, analysed, and advised upon for purposes of influencing policy processes in Somalia.
Done in Naivasha; on 16th October, 2011