The Speaker’s closing session address
to the Federal Parliament of Somalia:
Hon. Mohammad Sh. Osman “Jawari"
2013 - THE
YEAR OF NATIONAL HEALING
1. Introduction
Today is
indeed a historic occasion. We gather today to close the first Parliamentary
year under this constitution. It is therefore necessary that we pause for a
moment to look back to what we have achieved and think about how best we are to
meet the challenges of tomorrow. We must look at our report card and consider
what we have done and what we can do better. We need to think about what we are
doing to make this a better life for all our people. We need to ask: What
difference are we making in the lives of our people?
Alhamdulillah, with the Grace of
the All-Mighty, we have not only survived, but remain united and well poised to
deal with the challenges of the future!
At the beginning of our first
session we were Mps nominated on clan bases but now, thanks to Allah, we are
national MPs comunicating each other in dialogue and engaged on national
agendas. Contrary to the previous chaotic culture of the house, today I see MPs
that are deliberating issues in democratic way with the view of finding “what
is best for the country”.
I besiege Allah to uphold the
unity and steadfastness of the honorable members of this House and the people
we represent.
Today, as we celebrate our first
end of the Parliamentary year, we must not forget to remember the men, women
and children that were killed in this senseless conflict that has scarred our
country. There are no accurate figures of just how many people have sacrificed
their lives and those who were killed before we could get to this Parliament,
but many have estimated this to be more than a million! What a tragic waste of
lives! May Allah grant them all the Firdowza Paradise…Amen! To them, we pledge
ourselves today to continue to work tirelessly to bring about peace. To them,
we say, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER AGAIN shall we turn on each other violently.
Today as we celebrate, let us
not forget to remember the thousands of our people who were displaced and had
to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere. To them, we say, we commit
ourselves to work tirelessly to bring about the normalisation of our society
and bring back the Somali spirit in Somalia.
To the many thousands in our
country that have lost their property and livelihood, let us say, that we
commit ourselves today to bring about the rule of law and effective governance
to replace the anarchy and senseless rule of the gun and give voice to the
voiceless. To the Elders who selected and mandated us to serve in this August
body, it pains me to record the the MP and the elder who were targeted and assassinated,
presumably because of their contribution to this effort. To them, we pledge to
conduct ourselves in a manner that will make you proud. We promise to make sure
that their contribution was not in vain. Failure in our mission is not an
option! May Allah grant us success in this, and may the Almighty, with his
mercy grant them all the gardens of bliss…amen!
To our boys and girls in the
army forces know that you are in the forefront of our minds. We are fully aware
ofyour situation. This parliament is commited and will spare no effort in
building a fully equiped National Army capable that can be the pride of Somalia
and guardian of our sovereignity; a friendly police force, well trained in
human rights that can guarantee the safety of our people and protection of
properties, a custodial corp capable in the rehabilitaion of prisoners; and an
effective, ever watchful Intelligence service.
To the children of our country,
many of whom have never experienced what government is like or governance is
about, we pledge to you to be worthy role models for you to emulate. You are
our future leaders and we promise to you to lay the foundations for a bright future
that you can all feel proud of being Somali... that you can proudly say around
the world: “I am Somali!”
Honorable Members of the House;
Today, I
present you with our first annual report for this Parliament under the new
constitution. To do so, we are required to look back and consider where we have
come from and record what sacrifices it took to bring this country to where it
is now. We are also required to understand where we are and what challenges and
opportunities we face right now. We are then also required to look forward and
consider what our plans are for the future, especially the next session.
2. Background
The Constitution of the Somali
Republic was endorsed on August 1, 2012 by the National Constituents’
Assembly. As Members of this Parliament,
we were selected by our elders and were sworn in on August 20, 2012 as Members
of the House of the People for a term of four (4) years to replace the former
Transitional Federal Parliament of the Republic of Somalia. We are therefore the first permanent
parliament in 20 years! Alhamdu-liLlaah!
On August 28, 2012, the Speaker
of the House of People and two Deputy Speakers were elected by the members of
the House of the People. Thereafter on
September, 10, 2012, we elected a new President and on October 6, 2012, the
President appointed a new Prime Minister.
The Council of Ministers were endorsed with unanimous confidence on the 13 November, 2012.
Mashaa’Allah; Not only did we
achieve this, but it is remarkable that we have achieved this with the
unanimity of this House as we did!
3. What are our challenges?
We have overcome many
great difficulties, but there are many more that we need to deal with.
The Somali people, country and
its infrastructure have suffered the ravages of internecine conflict that has
persisted over the past couple of decades. The establishment of this House
marks the beginning of an end to this suffering.
- The principal task and challenge for this House is to establish
the rule of law required to implement and give effect to the new
Constitution.
- Somalia is not yet free of conflict and peace and the unity of
the Somali people are of paramount importance. This House must champion
the building of national unity and peace.
- Somalia is in need of a reconstruction and re-development
programme that will result in the restoration of confidence in all Somalis
and encourage all Somalis in the diaspora to return and invest the human
and other capital in the revitalization of the country. This House will be
required to develop the laws necessary to achieve this.
- Somalia is required to resume its place in the community of
nations, especially its neighbours, and position itself to benefit from
the potential of investments from both local and international resources.
It is the responsibility of this House to restore this pride to the people
of Somalia.
- This House is being established afresh starting from the very facilities where we are accommodated. Together with the facilities, it is necessary to develop the appropriate organisation structure, human capacity and infrastructure to support the People’s House of Somalia.
Allow me then my Brothers and
Sisters to remind you the Qur’anic Statement in Surah: 94 verses 5 & 6
For indeed, with hardship [will
be] ease.
Indeed, with hardship [will be]
ease.
Indeed, after every hardship,
there will be ease. We must therefore persevere and continue with our
struggle. As our brothers in Africa would
say: La lotta Continua! Vittoria e’ Certa!
4. What have we done so far?
The situation today is that we
are still at the very beginning of building our new government that will
deliver democracy to this blessed country of ours. Government is yet to be
established, let alone functioning. This House was just formed four months ago
and we have just adopted our Rules of Procedure, formed our committees and
agreed to our strategy. The only substantive business we conducted dealt with
the establishment of the executive and approval of the budget. It is our
intention that parliament will only properly start functioning at the beginning
of the new session in March 2013. During its First Session that started on
Agust 20, 2012 to date, this Parliament had 46 Ordinary plenary sittings and
nine (9) extraordinary session, while ad-hoc Committees were parelelly and
continously dealing on different national issues.
Quorum
and MPs presence:
The maximum participation of the
MPs was during the 9th sitting of the House dated 10th
September 2012 with a quorum of 271 MPs present and voting, and the least
presence of the MPs was noted during the 35th sitting of 16.12.2012
with a quorum 152 MPs present. The average quorum of the First Session of 2012
is 190 MPs. The performance of the MPs was very good, the presence is not bad,
but we can be better.
Because our Interna Rule of
Procedure was approved recently, today every MP is given a confidential letter
summarizing his/her record. From next session the record of presence of each MP
will be on the Parliament Website so that his/her constiuency in particuar and
the people at large can follow their representatives. Further more there are
several MPs who have prolonged absence without any justification. To these we
will send a notice of admonishment.
On the otherhand, four (4) MPs
have so far resigned, three of whom their substitutes were sworn in, one MP was
killed and his substitute is sworn in as well. As per today’ there is only one
(1) seat vacant whose substitute has not yet been decided the clan elder. All
substitutes are selected on the same process of the previous TSC criteria.
But, a great deal of work has
really been done. A great deal of energy and has gone into this past four month
and it is important for me to report to you on this.
- Sessions
of Parliament – Parliament met on 46 sessions;
- Motions
Passed and Activities of the House – The following activities took place –
- Election
of the Office bearers;
- Election
of the President;
- One
joined parliamentary session with the traditional Elders;
- Confidence
motion on the appointment of the Prime Minister;
- Confidence
motion on the appointment of the Council of Ministers and their
programme;
- Rules
of Procedure was adopted;
- Establishment
of Committees adopted;
- Parliamentary
Strategy was discussed and adopted after a two-day parliamentary retreat;
- Discussion
and approval of the trimester national budget of 2012;
- Hosting
of the Turkish Foreign Minister;
- Hosting
of the UN;
- Hosting
of the Speaker of the Djibouti Parliament;
- Approval
of 2013 National Budget;
- First
reading – Public Finance Act;
- First
reading – Bilateral agreements between Somalia and Turkey on military
personnel training;
- Approval
of the inter – parliamentary cooperation between the Somali Federal
Parliament and National Assembly
of the Republic of Djibouti;
- Approval
of the Parliamentary Personnel Organization Chart;
- Identification
of priority laws required by the constitution;
- Dispatch
of fact finding Parliamentary delegation to Palestine;
- Miscellaneous
work done through ad-hock committees;
The Office of the Speaker has
also had a full programme. The following activities are important for me to
report on:-
1.
Held
Acting President of the Federal Republic on several occasions;
2.
Hosted
29 meetings of foreign delegations;
3.
Hosted
24 meetings with donor and donor agencies;
4.
Met with
the Traditiona Elders on three occasions;
5.
Hosted a
meeting 240 delegates of university students in Parliament;
6.
Hosted a
meeting 300 delegates of several women organizations in Parliament;
7.
Hosted
several meetings with the executive in the alignment of the legislative agenda;
8.
Many daily
unscheduled meetings with MP’s.
You will agree with me when I
say that we have indeed, with the grace of the Almighty, done a lot and
performed well. Masha-Allah!
5. What is our Strategy?
Our
Strategy is intended to realise the vision of this House as being the voice of all Somali people. This House
represents all of the Somali people and must exercises its Constitutional
powers to legislate, provide oversight of the government and hold it
accountable by promoting the aspirations of the people of Somalia in order to achieve
peace, unity and development.
In
doing so, we must be guided by:- Amanah
(Trust) – Trust comes in various forms and is so complicated that my humble
speech can hardly scratch its surface but never the less I am tempted to say
few symbolic words about scope of the noble subject.
Besides
covering the traditional fixed, non-fixed, liquid assets it also confers the
same status when it comes to none tangible assets and issues such as the
implementation of agreed upon programs, treating any sensitive information that
gets to your way through your work as confidential.
The
wise use of your knowledge and skills also comes under the theme of Amanah. I
am sure that every MP is aware that it is his/her responsibility, according to
Amana, to ensure that the movement of the national treasury is prudently
scrutinized so much so that every shilling is accounted for. There is no room
in Amanah for the selfish and passive practices of turning a blind eye on
corruption and its likes by invoking the notorious phrases such as “it is none of my business or what is in for
me?!”
Each
of us holds office in trust and for the benefit of the Somali people with the
firm promise that we jointly deliver a working federal states and a secure environment
for the citizens to elect, in the general elections scheduled for 2016, their
own true representatives.
- Integrity – is
the fundamental pillar that caused the nation to offer immunity to its
parliamentarians and in return nation is expecting us to serve them in a
very transparent way. Undemanding things such to be specific
and on the agenda of the day and also to contribute meaningfully when
discussing issues are counted as a part of integrity and as an icon of the status
of the MP.
Let me remind you that we commit ourselves to carrying out all
our activities with the highest level of integrity, sincerity and above all,
professionalism.
- Accessibility and Accountability
– As members of the People’s House of Somalia, we commit ourselves to
being accessible and accountable to the people of Somalia, to be open and
seek to understand their views, concerns and aspirations to draw
developmental programmes that address and reflect the will of the people.
- Respect – We commit ourselves to
equally respect our elders, each other and those we are entrusted to
represent with the greatest amount of humility and without regard to
regional, clan, ethnic origin, disability or social status.
- Respect – The House is all the
time engaged in deliberating on national issues so to respect each other
is paramount key to unlock our potentiality. In other words, the respect
in which we deal with each other can be learnt and emulated by the younger
generations.
Honourable
members of the House; We must always remember that the citizens are the Sovreign
and that we are their humble servants.
- Patriotism- One could easily see how the long civil
war negatively affected the Somali patriotism - patriotism is at best
dormant or at worst in a deep coma.
People are fleeing the country as if they are custodians of someone
else’s country. It is worth to mention that as fallout of the civil war a
culture of fear took root which I am confident will only rather extinguish
the aspirations of the nation. We commit ourselves to bravely lead and serve
the Somali people in a patriotic way, and to spearhead the renaisance and
awakening of the patriotic feeling in our citizens.
Our
strategy is very basic and simple. Our Strategy commits this House to deliver
three strategic objectives over the next four years:
- We will enact implementable
quality legislation, review of the constitution, and maintain effective
oversight over the other branches of government.
- We will empower our MPs through
capacity building to represent and remain accountable to the Somali people
and to give leadership in a way that promotes national unity and peace.
- We will establish this House as
an effective institution with a functioning administration and
infrastructure.
6. What does our Report Card Show?
Our strategy commits us to
sixteen priority areas. It is important that we start a practice of report
faithfully against the priorities that we commit ourselves to. Let us look at
what we have done so far.
Priority
1 – Effective Rules of Procedure
These Rules allow MPs to
effectively exercise their representative, legislative and oversight functions.
These Rules have already been adopted.
Priority
2 –
Effective and Efficient Parliamentary Committees
These Committees have already
been appointed. The importance of this is that Committees are the vehicles
through which Parliament is able to develop legislation, maintain oversight,
and attend to the building of national unity and peace. Arrangements are currently
underway to recruit university graduate interns who will be trained together
with the existing staff to provide the necessary support to committees when
Parliament resumes.
At this junction, on behalf the
members of the House, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our
parliament staff who under very difficult conditions coupled by long unsocial
hours delivered commendable work. Surely without their dedication we could have
not reached these achievements.
Priority
3 - Oversight
This is a core function. And
members of this House have proven that they are not shy to provide for the
effective oversight of the other branches of government and public
institutions.
Priority
4 – Budget
management, accounting, audit and oversight
While much needs to be done, we have already
started with this oversight function with the recent passing of the budget. The
Parliament and the Council of Ministers for the first time demonstrated in
action the importance of the constitutional dialogue between the legislative
and the executive branches of the government in relation to the streamlining of
the national priorities. The parliamentarians lived up to their vision” the
voice of the people” when they scrutinized the budget in a responsible way and
corrected the distortions within the budget.
Realigning the budget in such away to reflect the priorities of the
nation which as a consequence allocated reasonable funds for the National Armed
Forces and the development of the Social Services is seen as a commendable
achievement.
Priority
5 -
Developing legislative program
One of the core functions of
this Parliament is to enact legislation that will provide the legal framework
for the establishment of a constitutional democracy. In this regard, we have already met with the
executive to enquire as to what their priorities are and response to the
constitutional imperatives. This is a conversation that is still to be
completed and will inform the legislative program that we intend to launch when
our session starts in March, 2013.
Priority
6 – Review of the Constitution
The Oversight Committee as
required by Article 133 (2) (b) of the constitution has been established. A
programme is currently being prepared with the intention of launching the
process of constitutional review in our next session of Parliament and
concluded at the end of 2014 and God willing, you will find the details in the
programme.
Priority
6 – Review of the Constitution
The Oversight Committee as
required by Article 133 (2) (b) of the constitution has been established. A
programme is currently being prepared with the intention of launching the
process of constitutional review in our next session of Parliament and
concluded at the end of 2014 and God willing, you will find the details in the
programme.
I would like to remind the
Honorable members, during the recess period, not to forget to note down the
concerns aired by your respective constituents with regard to the constitution.
I will finalize the mapping of the review of the constitution during the recess
period.
I would like to declare that the
constitution review will be open for all Somali regions to partake in the
dialogue, and in the spirit of brotherhood I am calling for Somaliland to take
their role in building prosperous, inclusive and bright future for Somalia.
Priority
7 – Establishing constituency offices
MPs need to effectively consult
and report back to their constituencies. Constituency offices are critical to
the establishment and legitimacy of parliament as they establish a physical
presence through which parliamentarians are able to interact with their people.
This priority will be dealt with in an incremental process starting with a
number of pilot offices;
Priority
8 – Establishing Outreach and Public Information programmes
Outreach and Public Information
Programmes serve to educate, inform and empower the public to actively
participate in the democratic process. These programmes also make parliament
more transparent. The importance of these programmes is to develop stronger
relationships between parliament and the broader suport of the public; empowers
the citezens to give informed opinion and will also encourage wider public
inputs into the process to review the constitution. I strongly recommand the
MPs to strat the activities of this priority within this recess.
Priority
9 – Civil Society
There is a need to develop a
partnership between Parliament and civil society so that civil society can be
engaged in the process of scrutinizing legislation. I would like to encourage
MP’s to pursue this matter during this recess period.
Priority
10 – Promoting National Unity and Peace
Parliament has an integral role
to play bring about peace and promoting national unity building. Whilst several
MP’s have already started doing this, we must encourage this on a wider scale
as part of the constituency work to be carried out during the recess period.
Priority
11 – Parliamentary Leadership The Office of the Speaker and
leadership of the Parliament is critical to the establishment of Parliament as
an institution. A number of steps are already being taken to build its
capacity, including the appointment of a legal advisor and other professionals
that are deemed essential in raising the quality of work of the office of the
parlimentery leadership.
Priority
12 – Development of Physical Infrastructure and Capacity building
The physical infrastructure of
the Parliament needs to improve in order to create an environment that allows
MP to exercise their legislative and oversight duties and represent the people
of Somalia. Discussions are currently underway with the Turkish Government who
has expressed an interest.
The outcome of the discussions
will be presented to you in our next session and likewise the Parliamentary
leadership office will strife to empower the committees by supplying essential
work facilities, improved security and trained support staff.
Priority
13 – Establishment of research unit and library for parliament
This unit will establish the
knowledge base and institutional memory of Parliament. It will also serve as a
major support to Committees and ensure that they are provided with quality
research and legal information. We are currently working on developing a
structure and recruiting interns to support us. It is my hope that we will have
something basic in place when we reconvene after the recess.
Priority
14 – Organization Structure, Staffing and Skills Development
This House needs to be supported
with a competent staff and organization. Aside from the 30 people we currently
have, we hope to recruit 40 interns who will be trained together with our existing
staff to give the required support to our committees when we start work in
March.
Priority
15 – Develop ICT facilities
We are currently trying to
establish a website which we hope will be operational during the recess period.
Please be on the look out for this as we will be placing critical information that
is relevant to your work.
Priority
16 - Improving the security of parliament and members of parliament
Without security, this House
will not be able to function. We are currently working on acquiring key
security equipment including armoured cars, hand held and walk through scanners
as well as security personnel.
I think you will agree with me
when I say that not only were we busy, but we have achieved a lot in this short
while. While we can all rightfully feel proud of what we have done, there is
still a lot that needs to happen. The important question that we will all have
to deal with is: what have we done to improve the lives of our people? The
answer to this is that we still have a long road to travel before we can say
that we are providing a better life for all our people. That brings us to the
critical question of the day: What is the way forward?
7. What is the way forward?
The year ahead will possibly be
one of the most important years in our history. Having established a
constitution and parliament after nearly 20 years of chaos, we have given
people reason to hope for a better future. Our people are watching with great
expectation. We cannot fail them! (Dare we not fail them!)
We will not be able to rebuild
the country in a year. We cannot undo the destruction, pain and conflict of 20
years in a year. We cannot build democracy in a year. But, we can and must make
a start. Let us carefully look at what goals we need to set for ourselves for
the next year.
Constituency Work
The first and most important
task that we have is to go back to our constituencies. We should do this early
in our recess. We must return to the people in whose name we hold our office.
The people whose trust we hold. We are required to go back to them and
faithfully report on developments that have taken place since we were
appointed. We need to demonstrate our accountability! We need to obtain the
mandate of our people on issues that we will be considering. We need to consult
with our people on the issues that matter to them and identify what their
priorities are. We need to consult with our people to understand what we need
to do to promote national unity and peace. Indeed, we must give leadership to
our people where we are able to attend to matters necessary in our community.
And, most importantly, we must ensure that we are placed in the best position
to represent our people in Parliament. We must never fail to remember that: WE
ARE THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE!
To confirm our integrity,
sincerity and professionalism, I must ask that each of you submit a written
report to Parliament on your constituency work. Included in this report must be
your recommendations with regard to the establishment of constituency offices
in your areas. These reports will be placed on our website so that all our
people can see what mandates we obtained from our people and how we represent
them.
But, even we are entitled to
some rest! Each of you have worked extremely hard to bring us to the stage that
we are at and I am must pay tribute to you for your courage, hope and
commitment. May Allah reward you abundantly!
When you return, we will have a
tough year ahead. These are the following major objectives that we need to
achieve for the coming year.
Parliament must be
made functional.
We need to ensure that our
committees are able to carry out their work and tangible progress is made to
establish our infrastructure, improve security and provide support staff,
especially for our committees.
Programme of
Legislation
We need to have settled our
legislative programme in consultation with the executive. In this regard, they
are required to give us their responses and identify their approach to the
priority legislation and institutions as required by the constitution. I am
hoping that we will obtain this during the recess period.
Constitutional
Review
We will start the process of the
constitutional review as required by the constitution. It is my hope that when
you are consulting with your constituencies, you will also obtain their views
and mandate with regard to the constitution. The design of this process will be
attended to during the recess period. In this regard, I wish to confirm that a
special effort will be made to attend to a fair regional dispensation. In
particular, I am committed to reaching out to our brothers and sisters in
Somaliland to make sure that they are made part of the process of defining the
future of our beloved country.
Promotion of the
Rule of Law and the National Unity and Peace.
Perhaps, most importantly, we
need to spend as much time as it possible on matters deal with
a.
The rule
of law, return of IDP’s and the restitution of property, and
b.
The
promotion of national unity and peace.
I wish to conclude my remarks
today by paying tribute to each and every one of you as members of parliament.
You have worked under difficult circumstances and performed exceedingly well. I
am very proud and blessed to have this opportunity to work with you. The road
ahead will be difficult, but I am confident that together we can work. More
importantly, together we can make sure that we build a peaceful, safer and
better life for all Somali people.
In return, I too will undertake
to make myself accessible to you and will at the same time remember that I
remain accountable to you. Over the past four months, I have had the pleasure
of meeting with a large number of our members here. However, it may not always
have been possible to see each and every one of you who requested an audience.
For this, I make an apology. However, to improve this, I have given instructions
that I set aside two days in the week (Sunday and Wednesday) to meet with those
MP’s that need a hearing. To facilitate this I will ensure that my diary will
be made available transparently to make these appointments. I would appreciate
this as it would then make it possible for me to manage my time more
effectively.
In closing, this has been a
momentous and historic year. We are at the dawn of a new epoch and time in our
history. However, the journey ahead will not be easy. It will require a lot of
hard work. But, together, I am sure that we will succeed, Inshaa Allah. It is
my view that for us to succeed, we need to start with us as Somali people.
After the many years of conflict that our people have had to experience, it is
necessary that we start with a process of healing our deeps wounds and relieve
ourselves of the pain we had to endure. For this, we need to start a process of
healing. A process of national healing. I therefore declare this next year to
be THE YEAR OF NATIONAL HEALING.
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