REENGINEERING SOMALIA

The June 9 Kampala agreement (KA) between the Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, after months of political squabbles, stipulates the extension of the Transitional Federal Government’s lifespan to August 20, 2012. The KA agreement charges the Transitional Federal Institutions to make constitution, deliver security, prepare for election, and undertake parliamentary reforms and political outreach within the framework of one year.

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Photo taken in 2009

Nonetheless, most Somalis believe the current members of parliament, speaker of the house and the president lack the experience, education and integrity necessary to deliver any of the reforms necessary to usher in a new era of a stable Somalia.

However, between now and August 2012, the TFIs can and should do the following:
• Finish and approve the national constitution.
• Select a representative electoral commission with appropriate professional qualifications.
• The electoral commission must appoint a committee of prominent persons (CPP), from home and abroad, who will nominate members of parliament for the August 2012 government.
• Candidates for such parliamentary positions must have both competence and college-level education necessary to get their job done. The CPP must perform essential background checks to verify the qualifications of all candidates.
• Current legislature must reapply for their jobs without any further unilateral tenure extensions upon the expiry of their present term. Only those who demonstrate commitment to peace, development and the cause for Somalia must be re-nominated.
• Abolish the infamous four-point-five (4.5) power-sharing clan formula.
• Number of parliamentarians for the August 2012 government must be limited to 135. If 4.5 remains power-sharing basis then the share of each major clan must be cut to 30, half of that agreed upon in 2004 Nairobi Reconciliation Conference.
• Then a parliament so formed must elect a president and a speaker. The president then appoints a premier who will form the cabinet.
• A government so elected must be allowed to serve a full four or five-year term and the ‘interim’ tag must be removed.

Somalis must unite and stand with such a government to improve security and the delivery of public services. Only then will Somalia be free to protect the rights of its citizens and exercise territorial control over its soil.