Tuesday, 13 September 2011)The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) starts implementing the new Roadmap following recent high level Consultative meeting that was concluded on 06 September 2011 in Mogadishu. At the end of the meeting participants agreed a roadmap. This was a historic moment for Somalis as the consultative ended with unity, harmony and above all served a unity of purpose and ownership of the outcome of the meeting, namely the roadmap.

Within couple of days the Council of Ministers met on 8^th September 2011 and approved the adoption of the new roadmap. The Prime Minister of Somalia, Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali stated: “ The new roadmap is an important historical document and the government is committed to implementing it with a view to making a difference for our people. This roadmap process was Somali-led; participants were all Somalis with our international security and development partners attending as observers. More importantly, Somalis had the ownership of the outcome of the consultative meeting. The roadmap was adopted in a transparent manner and shows our priorities for the next 12 months.”

To meet one of the first deadlines of the Road Map, the Council of Ministers had an extraordinary meeting on 11 September to discuss the implementation of the roadmap and in particular the process of the constitution. The Council of Ministers agreed the government’s policy paper on how to proceed with the constitution process and decided the following 8 points:

1.      The TFG to appoint a Committee of experts by September 19, 201 to review the draft constitution and re-draft and complete the constitution. The committee shall be inclusive reflecting the diversity of Somalia along clan and geographical lines and gender balance. On gender balance, female representation shall be 4 if the number of the committee turns out to be 9 members or 6 if the total number is 15. Since no funding has as yet not been allocated to the constitutional making process, the September 19 deadline for this action item can be thought through.

2.      A Joint Committee of stakeholders (15) to be appointed by September 19, 2011to prepare modalities of adopting the draft constitution.

3.      The Committee of experts shall be in office no later than the first week of October 2011 so that it can begin consultations with the various stakeholders about possible options of Decentralization including Federalism, and the isolation of contentious issues by October 19, 2011.

4.      Beginning the first week of October, 2011, the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and Reconciliation to begin public consultations on the constitution through Radio, TV, theatre, town hall meetings and popular arts in various cities in many regions of Somalia

5.      First Constitutional Conference among stakeholders to be held in Garowe around the end of October 2011. This conference will be one such conference among many conferences to be held in various localities in Somalia.

 

6.      Beginning in November 2011, the Committee of experts to hold consultative meetings with Somali religious scholars, women’s groups, civil society and the Somali business community in order to obtain input from civil society.

7.      In the middle of November 2011 the TFG through its Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and Reconciliation will formally table a request to Parliament to engage in the process of amending the existing charter in order to accommodate the forward processing of the constitutional project.

 

8.      The joint Committee shall begin the preparation of the process of  adoption of the constitution in November 2011 so that it can meet the January 2012 target date for provisional adoption of the constitution

The Prime Minister of Somalia Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali stated: “The implementation process of the roadmap will be inclusive to all TFIs, regional administrations, Ahlu Sunna and all segments of the society. I appeal to all Somalis to take part in this process. We are imparking on a new era of making a difference to our people. We urge our key partners and friends in the International Community to provide timely resources to help us achieve our ambitious targets. We need to consolidate recent progresses on security, reconciliation and political outreach. This is the best time to implement the roadmap and at the same time to bringing peace and stability in the country.”

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