Monday, 11 March 2013

Hijacked Somalia Draft Constitution rejected by IFCC


Hijacked Somalia Draft Constitution rejected by IFCC
The Independent Federal Constitution Commission (IFCC) has rejected the newly approved draft constitution after leaders agreed to present the document so it could be voted on, Garowe Online reports.
The head of the IFCC, Abdullahi Hassan Jama held a press conference in Mogadishu on Monday where he stated that he could not present the proposed constitution ratified by leaders, to stakeholders. "Officials in the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have asked us to distribute the document to different members of the civil society, but we have objected to this because this is not a document that the IFCC can be responsible for," said Mr. Jama. The statement by the IFCC Chairman comes after leaders had agreed to the proposed document following a meeting in Nairobi. The chairman of the technical committee, Abdullahi H. Jama, said they received a different draft text from the one recently adopted in Nairobi for review from the TFG. He said the copy handed to them on Sunday during a meeting with senior members of the TFG in Villa Somalia was drafted in Addis Ababa by another committee. “We met with government officials and they submitted a document they said was the final draft that was approved in Nairobi to us for review. They requested that we disseminate it to the National Constituent Assembly (NCA),” Mr. Jama said. He stressed after review, they called for a session and the committee decided not to accept the new document from the TFG. He added the TFG lacks transparency and violates its obligation to the Somali people. “The TFG decree underlines that the committee is an independent institution therefore a draft prepared by us should be disseminated to the public,” he said during a press conference in Mogadishu. He finally said that the committee will submit its version of the draft to the NCA for final approval before it becomes the official constitution of Somalia. He went on to say the government version was not editable. Indicating that the TFG requested it should be left as it is.Shortly after Mr. Jama's press conference, Minister for the Constitution Abdirahman Hoosh Jibril responded with a press conference of his own, saying that the IFCC had squandered resources given to them to produce a decisive constitution. "This group had 7 years to produce a constitution which they were given millions of dollars for," adding that, "they squandered the money in Nairobi and Kampala," said Minister Jibril. According to the Minister, the IFCC mandate had ended last week but the group was given a four day extension and that the constitution will be presented to the National Constituent Assembly (NCA). The minister of constitution and reconciliation, Abdirahman Hosh Jibril, speaking to VOA Somali Services responded to the accusations by saying the term of the committee has expired and that their input was no longer required. He admitted to making changes to the draft constitution in particular to articles that deal with the election and political parties. He reiterated that the two copies were the same apart from “adding the Roadmap principles”. He said the committee wants payment for another year and that such can not be tolerated. Despite the IFCC's claim, the players like Jibril and UNOPS are going ahead with the process, saying that the proposed constitution will be made available to the Somali public via internet and other outlets. "This constitution will be presented to the Somali public so we can hear if there need to be corrections, what needs to be changed and what they support, and we are waiting for their inputs," said Minister Jibril. The Somali draft constitution has been the biggest obstacle for the TFG to overcome; the IFCC submitted the first draft of the constitution in April, shortly after that leaders met in Addis Ababa to discuss issues regarding the constitution. According to the Addis Ababa communiqué the issues with the initial constitution were mainly "unclear" and "contradictory" articles. The constitution was submitted by the IFCC and Council of Experts who had worked on the document for several years; at the Addis Ababa meeting leaders agreed to create a technical committee to revise the document and amend unclear articles. Following the meeting in Addis Ababa last month, the UN instigated players met in Nairobi last week where they agreed to adopt the revised proposed constitution. This was considered as a key achievement by UN Special Representative to Somalia Augustine Mahiga. The TFG is scheduled to end in August and leaders have stressed that further disagreements could have a serious impact on ending the transition. REMINDER: THE IFCC REFUTES CABINET DECISION ( The Independent Federal Constitution Commission strongly condemns the unlawful decisions taken by the cabinet ministers on Sunday, the 11th of September 2011. This decision is a clear violation of the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) and the recent high level political consultative meeting in Mogadishu from September 4th-6th 2011, both of which have entrusted the Commission to draft a constitution. The Cabinet Ministers have violated the articles of the TFC,
  • Particularly Article 11 (5) and Article 6 of the TFC of February 2004 and laws enacted by Parliament that are related to the mandate of the Commission on drafting the constitution.
Therefore, in order to respect the TFC and the laws of the country as well as the implementation of constitutional norms, we call on the government not to lead the way in trampling the laws but rather to set a positive, law-abiding example to the Somali people. We welcome the formation of a Committee of Experts that supports the IFCC in order to finalize the constitution within the agreed timeframe. The Committee of Experts is not another independent body parallel to the IFCC; rather, the IFCC is the only legal commission responsible for drafting the federal constitution. We hope that the Cabinet Ministers will swiftly reverse their decision in order to avoid a constitutional crisis that will lead to immeasurable consequences for the future of the country. For additional information visit the independent Federal Constitution Commission’s Website: www.dastuursomalia.org or contact the Commission’s Chair, Abdullahi Hassan Jama via e-mail:info@dastuursomalia.org and telephone +254 721624425.
The Consultative Meeting of the Principal Signatories of the Process for Ending the Transition ended with the adoption of the following documents.
  • Joint Communiqué of the Consultative Meeting of the Signatories of the Process for Ending the Transition.[English] [Somali]
  • Protocol Establishing the Technical Selection Committee. [English] [Somali]
  • Protocol Establishing the Somali National Constituent Assembly. [English]  [Somali]
  • Protocol Establishing the Somali New Federal Parliament.  [English]  [Somali]
  • Protocol Establishing the Signatories Technical Facilitation Committee. [English]  [Somali]
  • Somali Transitional Government Decree Providing for the Transition to a new Federal Government For the Somali Republic.  [English]  [Somali]
  • Official draft of the provisional constitution for adoption by the National Constituent Assembly.  [English to follow]  [Somali]
UNOPS still holds back the English version of their "Official Draft", which actually is the basic paper on which the Somali translation was made.
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