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Thursday, July 21th 2011 at the Nomad Palace Hotel, Nairobi - Kenya
The panel meeting commenced at 10.30am. Nearly all the invited participants had arrived by then, and the facilitatorrequested one of them to open the meeting with a ward of prayer. The national civic forum [NCF] executivedirector thanked the participants for their attendance and welcomed them to this important forum.
The facilitator expressed his concern on the gravity of problems facing Somalia as result of the two decades civil war. He agreed that so much is happening in Somalia and there is need for the civics, intellectuals; civil society and the business community to engage the transitional federal government [TFG] to ensure it fulfills its promise. He also highlighted the aim of the meeting as to discuss the recently released road map, propose membesr from the above groups who can add value to the process and how to monitor the implementation of the road map. The meeting also discussed the way forward for Somalia.
The meeting considered four priority items that were discussed in a consultative meeting on ending the transition in Somalia which was held in Mogadishu from 4th to 6th September 2011 and allowed the participants to add their views and make further recommendations. The items include constitution, security, reconciliation and good governance.
After briefly stating the topic of discussion, the facilitator requested each participant to introduce themselves by name and occupation.
DISCUSSION ON THE UNFOLDING EVENTS IN SOMALIA
The facilitator requested the participants to narrow their discussion to the main agenda which was constitution, security, reconciliation and good governance. The facilitator welcomed the first guest speaker who was a business man to start deliberating of the first task; the constitution. The speaker stated that there was lack of clarity in the constitution as it never addressed the important issues as agreed in the road map which are representation and ownership in terms of decision making. He pointed out that it was not clear who is the appointing authority and nobody questioned the role of parliament which undermine its legitimacy. He argued that the entities that formed parliament before should be involved in order to improve the legitimacy of the parliament. The policy decision of transitional federal government [TFG] is not considering the role of elders and other stakeholders in decision making process.
Another participant proposed the translation of the road map into Somali language. This is because a constitution is a very important document that will guide any governance process hence it is advisable to translate it into language that can be understood by all Somali people. There is also need to listen to their views and see whether they require further clarifications.
This will give an opportunity to all Somali citizens to take part in decision making and feel part of the system, thus leading to unity and progress in Somali leadership. The participant also proposed that the road map should be posted to a website and be published in a news paper so that every Somali citizen can have access to it.
While commenting on the proposed road map, another participant noted the importance of making references to the governance system that was adopted in the 1960s constitutions. This is because in the road map, the major emphasis is the federal system of government so he argued that the type of federalism to be adopted it’s not very clear. Hence there is a need to refer to the old constitution of 1960’s which has worked very well in the past and make it backbone of the new constitution. This will improve the governance system; the participant further questioned why foreigners like united nation prepares a constitution for Somalia as which will not work as it does not represent the interest of the Somali society. He argued that these systems where by a constitution of a particular nation is prepared by foreigners in the name of failed sate will not work and its time consuming because people have opposing views of such systems. He made reference to the estate of Egypt where the Egyptian people proposed an eleven members constitutional committee and they were given a ten days time frame to prepare a new constitution for themselves in which they succeeded. The participant questioned why the Somali people lack such initiative to do the same.
Another participant pointed out that the major problem with Somali people is that they are lazy and not organized. However she proposed that the only solution is for the Somalis to join hands and fight against their enemies who are a road block to the progress and development of their nation. Moreover she added that the Somalis by nature are reactionist and lacks the will, most of the money received from foreign aid goes to individuals pockets. The challenge is that most of the leaders are tribal minded and lack professionalism in handling critical issues. Hence there is a need to overcome all these behaviours.
A participant proposed the importance to differentiating the stake holders, who are the real stakeholders according to the traditional federal government? It is less important to accept stakeholders who do not understand their origin in the road map. He asked whether this stakeholders are ASWJ, civil society, Galmundug or Puntland. According to this participant, the transitional federal government kicked out civil society from stakeholders just because it has challenged its policy and as result the stakeholders are not very clear in the road map. He further proposed the creation of civic awareness through mass media .He said professionals like lawyers will have to take the initiative to make the public understand how the proposed constitution in the roadmap look likes through civic awareness creation to facilitate its review. He claimed that the Somali intellectuals who are experts should be given the opportunity to reveal all they know and understand of the transitional federal government in the presence of the media.
While commenting on the proposed road map another participant expressed his concern on how to establish monitoring groups or introduction of a mechanism that will oversee the implementation of the roadmap. The participant pointed National Civic Forum as an example which is already existing and monitoring from oversees how transitional federal government operates so that it will not engage in mal practices like misuse of public funds, authoritarian leadership etc. The participant further noted that the time frame for implementation of the proposed constitution is not convincing. He argued that it is advisable to put a new policy in place by appointing a new committee of experts with the capacity to calculate the required time for the constitution process completion and implementation successfully.
Another scholar pointed out that good governance should always be accompanied by powerful and effective judiciary; this will improve the current situation in Somalia. The participant argued that public funds have been misused and went to individual pockets and nobody is following up, so by creating an independent judicial body the selfish individuals will be brought to book and face the law to serve as an example to others. He added that if most of the suspects who have been accused of stealing public funds are already holding powerful public offices then who will investigate them in the first place? He proposed that the only solution is to put in place powerful judicial body that will act without any favour and in a professional manner, it is the only way in which justice will take its cause in Somalia.
A participant who is a member of NCF research team pointed out that the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) should adopt financial management Bill that includes procurement and other departments. He argued that the ministry of finance should be given the mandate to review and oversee the operations of the (TTP) when it comes to matters of financial budget .He proposed that the ministry of finance should be given the power to prepare and adopt the financial budget of a particular year. The participant concluded that the introduction of the financial management Bill will reduce cases of misappropriation and misuse of public funds.
Another participant who is also a member of the research team expressed his concern on the piracy policy which the Transitional Federal Government (TSF) is adopting. He lamented on the importance of amending counter piracy policy and legislation as proposed in the roadmap.
The researcher continued to argue that the involvement of foreign actors should be taken into consideration, that is promoting and funding the evil act called piracy. The participant said that piracy has been created and organized by foreigners, to fulfill their selfish interest. He gave an example of how a media correspondent of Aljazeera revealed how these pirates are being funded and assisted by foreigners.
A participant, who is a lawyer by profession, proposed that those Somali people who have been arrested in the name of piracy by other foreign governments should be taken back to Somalia and prosecuted using Somali judicial system. Another participant also shared her views and added that the main cause of piracy is lack of stable government and poverty. She also proposed that research institute should be empowered and promoted to enable people understand why this evil practice is being experienced in Somali.
Conclusion
Finally after the presentation, NCF Board chairman was given the opportunity to conclude the debate. He reminded the participants that one of the aims of the meeting was to appoint technical committee from this forum which will assess, recommend and propose the best method to adopt the roadmap in the next meeting. He requested the participant to propose among themselves members who are willing to take part in the next meeting and contribute voluntarily to the next debate.