Address to
the Somali Parliament by the Speaker - Mohammad Sh. Osman “Jawari" on the
14th October, 2012
Introduction
Today,
I stand before you … and I am proud to be a Somali! Today, … I have hope.
As
we look around us, the Arab, Muslim and developing world is struggling with
crises affecting many different countries. Powerful countries like Libya, Iraq
and Syria have exploded and governments have been destroyed. For the past two
decades, many in the world and among our neighbours referred to us as a ‘basket
case’. Somalia became the classical example of a failed and collapsed state. We
were the example of all that could go wrong and how not to govern.
And
yet this is not who or what we were. We were proud and we were a great nation.
We were a leading country in Africa. We had everything going for us. We were a
united people, enterprising, focussed, with great intellectual capital, one
language, one religion and a country full of resources. Yet, … we did lose our way. Foreign intervention
and interference collided with greed, corruption and prejudice to divide our
once proud nation. We became our own worst enemies. We divide ourselves so that
nobody could rule or govern. We because impossible to govern and our once proud
national turned in on itself to loot and plunder even our schools and national
infrastructure. Something deep within that Somali psyche was corrupted. It was
so bad, and in some place still is so bad, that we are prepared to even hijack
food distribution to victims of disaster! We are dealing with a deep and
pervasive culture of mistrust that is so bad that we are prepared to use
religion to justify our treachery.
Against
all odds, with Allah awazajal’s qudrat, we have managed to make a new
beginning. The establishment of this Parliament and the peaceful election of
our President marks that moment in our history when we begin to turn our backs
on conflict, mistrust and division. That is of the past. A past that we must
break from. A past that we need to learn from. And a future that we need to
craft together.
Relative
calm has even been restored to many an area. The guns have gone silent and the
merchants of death have stopped trading. But, this relative peace that we are
now enjoying is fragile. It is a peace that will not last long. It is a peace
that is pregnant with hope. We have by our actions managed to capture the
imagination and prayers of our people. And our people are waiting and watching
our every move very carefully. They would like to see what it is that we are
going to do. They want to see if are to repeat the mistakes of the past. This
is because there is a deep mistrust by our people of all our people in
government. Successive governments have all been corrupted and acted with
impunity. Government was treated as a private fiefdom for people to loot and
plunder as they wished. There was never anybody in place to stop them. The
people cannot trust us. Trust is something we are going to have to earn.
The
only way in which we are going to earn the trust of our people is by our
actions and if we act decisively. This relative calm that we are experiencing
is but a small window of opportunity. It will not last too long. That is why we
need a strategy for our Parliament and the Rules of Procedure. Our strategy
that must give all our people hope and confidence that we will act as the voice
of the people and not in our own interest. We need to demonstrate that we will
not act on behalf of one or other interests, be they clan or region, but in the
interests of all our people. We need to truly be the voice of our people. This
is the only way in which we will stop the culture of greed and corruption. We
need to show to people the benefits of working and acting differently. If we
behave badly, so will our people.
The
Strategy should explain very clearly what we want to achieve and define what
our objectives are. In this way, people can then hold us accountable. Our
strategy is our promise of delivery to the people. It is how people can measure
as to whether we are meeting with their expectations or not. As for the Rules
of Procedure, these are the rules by which our parliament would work. It would
make sure that we act in a particular manner that would promote an ethical
approach to our work, make it transparent and demonstrate to our people how we
will consult with them and make ourselves accountable. We must conduct
ourselves with Akhlaaq.
Before
proceeding, I thought I should share with you some words of inspiration and
guidance from our Holy Quran.
Verily
Allah commands you to fulfill your trusts to those whom it is due and when you
judge, judge with justice, Very how excellent is the guidance Allah gave you,
it is he who sees all things. (Al-Nisa’:58)
O
you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority
among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the
Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best
[way] and best in result. (Al-Nisa’4:59)
And
those who have responded to their lord and established prayer and whose affair
is [determined by] consultation among themselves, and from what We have
provided them, they spend. (42:38)
What then is the purpose of this Strategy?
This
strategy is intended to have 3 purposes:-
1.
It is a message
of hope for all our people. We are breaking from the past and building a new
future together, for all our people.
2.
It will define what
our goals and objectives are.
3.
It will also define
our needs so that we may be able to solicit funding to realise these objectives
What are the challenges that we are seeking to
address in the Strategy?
·
We have suffered
from conflict over the past couple of decades. We were a divided people. This
House, this parliament is the embodiment of our unity as a Somali people and
not a collection of different clans. Here, we are one and we speak as the voice
of the people.
·
We are starting
afresh from the very facilities where it will be accommodated. We must
therefore work in a new way and not the way of the old. We must show that we
are different.
·
The primary task
is to establish the Rule of law & implement the new Constitution. We will
have to achieve this through the legislation we produce.
·
We are not yet
free of conflict. Peace, reconciliation
and the unity of the Somali people are of paramount importance. We must
demonstrate how we will be agents of peace, reconciliation and the promotion of
peace.
·
We need a massive
reconstruction and re-development programme to restore the confidence of all
Somalis. We need to get our economy going and provide for the employment of our
people
·
Resume our place
in the community of nations. We need to be proud to be Somalis.
What is our Vision and Mission?
It
is my view that our Vision must be to be the Voice of all Somali people.
What is our Mission and purpose?
I
propose that our Mission and Purpose be to
unite the Somali people for a safer and better life for all.
What Values should we promote?
There
are four values that I would like us to promote.
1. Amanah
We
recognise that we have been appointed and not elected. We therefore hold office
in trust until the true representatives of the people are elected. We should
therefore respect the office that we hold by conducting ourselves in an
exemplary manner.
2. Integrity
We
must commit ourselves to acting with integrity, sincerity and honesty. We need
to conduct ourselves like good Muslims should.
3. Accessibility
We
must commit to being accessible, open and to understand the views, concerns and
aspirations of all our people. We need to gain their confidence and show that
we are different.
4. Respect
We
must commit ourselves to equally respect each other and those we are entrusted
to represent.
What are the Strategic Objectives that we
should have?
I
propose that we have four strategic objectives: Parliamentary Business, Members
representation, Public confidence and interest, and Parliamentary support
services. Let me explain.
Parliamentary Business
This
is one of the main reasons why we exist. Here, our objective is to represent
the people and their views. We do this by maintaining effective oversight of
the Executive actions and to hold them accountable. We make the laws of this
country and we do so after consulting the people on all major decisions.
Members of Parliament
For
the members of parliament, we need to empower you to effectively represent the
people. Critical to achieving this would be to consider the establishment of
constituency offices. This would make sure that we remain in touch and in tune
with the wishes and interests of the people.
Public
We
need to inspire confidence of the people in us, and themselves and in the
future of this country. We will do this by making sure that we hold ourselves
accountable and be transparent in the way in which we word.
Support Service
For
this Parliament to work there must be effective and efficient Parliamentary
support services. Our committees need to be supported administratively and with
good secretarial services.
Opportunities
We
have an opportunity few countries would ever have. We are required to plan from
the beginning. It may be a problem because of the costs of establishing new
infrastructure and institutions; but, it is also an opportunity in that it
presents us with the possibility of creating best practice rather than
following. We need to lead and not just follow.
What does all of this mean in practice?
Allow
me to explain this by taking you through the graphic which has been distributed.
I would propose that we establish 11 major projects to implement this strategy.
These are as follows:-
The
reality is that we will not have the resources to be able to carry out all
these projects at the same time. So, what then are our most important priorities?
Priorities -
1.
Based on the
Program to be established by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers,
whose programme will have to be endorsed by this Parliament, we will then know
what is the program of legislation that will have to be passed.
2.
We need to establish
appropriate facilities, infrastructure and equipment to make this parliament
work.
3.
We need to develop
a program of consultations and engagement with the public. We need to consider
the establishment of constituency offices to make sure that members of
parliament are able to effectively consult with and engage with the people. How
else will we become the voice of the people?
4.
We will need to
review the provisional constitution to make sure that the final constitution properly
represents the interests of the people.
5.
We will need to
know how much this strategy will cost so that we could secure the resources necessary
to implement strategy
Just
a word about implementation. For too long now, we have as a Somali people
become dependent on aid and donor funds. While we may not be able to generate
the revenue from the first day to run our government, we also need to learn to
become independent. We cannot become slaves to donor funding. So, where
necessary and it will be, we will have to cut our cloth to suit the resources
available. To do this will require a great deal of sacrifice by all of us.
Unless we are able to do this, what is the message we will be sending out to
our people? To this end, I pay special tribute and salute each and every one of
you for the sacrifices that you have made. May Allah reward you abundantly in
this world and in the Akhirah.
No comments:
Post a Comment