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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Sep 18 2010 - 17:41:55 EDT
Somalia: Dispute over Draft Constitution pits TFG President vs. PM [Opinion]
Sep 18, 2010 - 4:53:21 PM
by Liban Ahmad
Until very recently Somalia's Transitional Federal Government president,
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the speaker of the transitional parliament, Sharif
Hassan, were close confidants. Both men are co-founders of the Alliance for
the Reliberation of Somalia in Asmara in 2007. Both Sharifs and their
supporters put their weight behind the UN-facilitated talks with TFG in
2008, a timely strategy that gave ARS 'moderates' an opportunity to expand
the parliament and put forward the name of the Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, as
presidential candidate when Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the former TFG
president, resigned in December 2008. Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected a
president in January 2009; he appointed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke,
former UN worker, a prime minister. Sharif Hassan joined the new cabinet as
a Minister of Finance. For one year the working partnership of the
president and the prime minister was spared the rift that affected the TFG
under their predecessors. Political animosity between the former
parliamentary speaker, Sheikh Adam Madobe, and the former Finance Minister
Sharif Hassan put strain on working partnership between the president and
the prime minister gradually. Sheikh Adan Madobe replaced Sharif Hassan as
speaker in 2006 when the latter made a pact with the former Union of Islamic
Courts in Mogadishu. Sheikh Adam Madobe, along with the former TFG
president Yusuf and prime minister Geddi, supported the Ethiopian
intervention that led to and insurgency by Al Shabab in southern Somalia.
Pay-back time
More than one year after the formation of TFG II, former ARS MPs in the
parliament tabled a motion to replace the parliamentary speaker, Sheikh Adan
Madobe whose mandate, they argued, was coming to an end in 2010. President
Sharif did not intervene but supported Sheikh Adam Madobe who misinformed
the president about the outcome of a parliamentary meeting and resigned.
President Sharif accepted the resignation of Sheikh Adam Madobe early this
year and dissolved Prime Minister Sharmarke's government and vowed to
appoint "a prime minister capable of doing the job" as recommended by
Sheikh Adan Madobe in his resignation speech. Prime minister Sharmarke
challenged the decision of president Sharif who "violated the transitional
federal charter of Somalia". President Sharif cited misinformation from the
former parliamentary speaker and reinstated the prime minister Sharmarke.
Several week after reinstatement of the prime minister, Sharif Hassan who
resigned as finance minister was elected the speaker of the parliament. He
sought to bridge the communication gap between the president and the prime
minister and managed to persuade the prime minister to agree to a cabinet
reshuffle that, according Mohamud Aluso, former chairman of Ayr sub-clan
Political Committee, the reshuffle led to purge of " pro-Arab Ministers and
Ministers from the Union Islamic Courts .[and inclusion of ] of pro-Ethiopia
[Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a] ministers" in the cabinet. Former speaker of the
parliament, Sheikh Adam Madobe, was appointed a minister of Transport and
Port and deputy prime minister.
'Alternative indirect representation'
The TFG leadership rift has resurfaced after the prime minister and the
speaker of the parliament sent letters to the international community
about the draft constitution about extending the TFG mandate after the draft
constitution is ratified by MPs and the civil society. The prime minster the
parliamentary speaker suggested that 'alternative indirect representation'
be the basis " for an indirect means of selection that will put in place
representational mechanisms that foster greater legitimacy and
accountability between the government and its people."
President Sharif countered the two leaders' communication with the
international community with a warning against "politicising" the draft
constitution. "Drafting a constitution for a new Somalia is a solemn
national undertaking which must be transparent and beyond reproach to ensure
that the constitution is vested with legitimacy." President Sharif's anger
understandable: neither the prime minister nor the parliamentary speaker has
sent copies of the two letters to the president. The two letters were
published in Somali websites. The subject of the prime minister's letter is
"Request for electoral assistance".
Question of the capital
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, commended Somalia's
Independent Federal Constitution Commission for the draft constitution and
noted that "the Chairman of the Commission stated that a number of
contentious issues, including the adoption of a presidential versus a
parliamentary system of government, the role of sharia, and the status of
Mogadishu in the context of federalism, would be referred to the
consultation process for further deliberation."
Questioning Mogadishu's status as capital of Somalia will put more 'clan'
pressure on president Sharif. It was leaders of United Somali Congress, the
armed opposition group that ousted the military regime in 1991, who
claimed Mogadishu as a clan fiefdom and did nothing to stop massacres USC
militias committed in 1991, and subsequent destruction of commercial
districts in Old Mogadishu city centre. President Sharif's has failed to
undercut Al Shabab and Hizbul Islam influence because of failure to talk to
Al Shabab and Hizbul Islam commanders and supporters without making them
feel he is laying claim on Mogadishu as sub-clan turf.
"We can't accept incompetence. I was named to choose the prime minister. If
he fails to perform his duties I have to get back to you about it. I can't
be utterly quiet as Somalia's future is being destroyed," Wall Street
Journal reported. How can the TFG perfrom satisfactorily if people like
Sheikh Adam Madobe, former parliamentary speaker who "lied" to the president
about a parliamentary meeting , can join the government as a cabinet member?
In his report to the Security Council , Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary
General, encourages " donors to scale up their utilization of the
Government's PricewaterhouseCoopers facility in the delivery of assistance.
I am encouraged by the successful accountability measures introduced by the
Government and the tracking mechanisms established by my Special
Representative, which are important not only for resource mobilization but
also for harnessing the political support needed to advance the Somalia
peace process." President Sharif wants the international community to have
no role in solving the TFG crisis but is keen on using the parliament to
remove the prime minister who wants the parliament to extend the TFG mandate
and have a bigger role in ratifying the draft constitution. President Sharif
talked about collective responsibility. The cabinet the Somali prime
minister puts together is the outcome of negotiations and inputs from
various stake holders (clans) but president Sharif would like the prime
minister to face the 'parliament' for incompetence caused by
collective decision making.
----------------------------------
Liban Ahmad is the chief editor of monthly publication Somalia Research
Report ("SRR") and a regular contributor to
<http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/index.shtml> Garowe Online. He
can be reached by E-mail:
<mailto:libahm@gmail.com> libahm@gmail.com
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