Max Planck Foundation organises Interregional Training on the Somali Constitutional Review Process
In October 2016 the Max Planck Foundation organised the second Interregional Training for selected staff of the Federal and Federal Member State Ministries of Constitutional Affairs in Somalia. This Interregional Training was the second of a series of such trainings, which aim at bringing together representatives from line Ministries of the Federal Government and the emerging Federal Member States of Somalia to be trained on comparative models of federal state systems in Africa and beyond and to discuss pertinent issues of the Somali federalisation process from a comparative perspective.
The topic of this second Interregional Training was specifically directed at the current stage of the Somali constitutional review process and related issues to be addressed in this process for the constitutional establishment of a sound and coherent federal system in Somalia. The training was attended by five representatives from the Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, five representatives from each of the respective line Ministries from Puntland, Galmudug, South West State and Jubbaland, plus five representatives from the regional governments of Hiraan, Middle Shabelle and Benaadir. The delegations from South West State and Galmudug were headed by the respective Federal Member State Minister of Constitutional Affairs.
After an introduction on the Somali constitutional review process, the Max Planck Foundation facilitators highlighted the key issues that still needed to be resolved so as to allow for the establishment of a sound and coherent federal system in the final Somali constitution. In the ensuing discussions, the participants exchanged views on the status of the Somali constitutional review process, particularly with respect to the perspectives of the Federal Member States and their involvement in the process.
In a second part of the training, the participants, who were divided into three working groups comprising of members of each delegation, provided their ideas and input for the improvement of the regulations pertaining to the federal state structure in the Somali Provisional Constitution. Pertinent issues included the status of the capital city, the state formation process, intergovernmental relations, the constitutional allocation of powers and competences, and the establishment of an Upper House as second chamber of a future bicameral Federal Parliament in Somalia.
The training forms the second of such Interregional Trainings delivered under the Max Planck Foundation’s project ‘Support to the Somali Federalisation Process’, with support from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project supports key institutions in the Somali federalisation process through the provision of continuous legal assistance and capacity building.