Max Planck Foundation facilitates another retreat to support the Somali constitutional review process
In the framework of the EU funded project “Capacity Building and Legal Advice for the Somali Federal Parliament”, the Max Planck Foundation supports the work of the Somali Constitutional Review and Implementation Oversight Committee (OC). Among other activities, this includes the facilitation of a number of working retreats for the OC.
From 27 November to 2 December 2017, the Max Planck Foundation facilitated the second retreat for the OC in Nairobi, Kenya bringing together all but one member of the OC as well as three Commissioners from the Independent Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission (ICRIC) and two legal advisers from the Somali Ministry of Constitutional Affairs (MOCA). As per the request of the OC, this retreat was organised as a capacity building workshop on a number of selected constitutional law topics of relevance for the Somali constitutional review process, i.e. questions of horizontal separation of powers, vertical separation of powers in a federal system, defence and security organisation in a federal system, fiscal federalism and public finance, natural resource sharing in a federal system, citizenship regulations in a constitution, and status of the capital in a federal system. These topics were presented from a specific Somali as well as from a comparative constitutional law perspective. After each presentation, the options developed by the former OC and ICRIC during the first term of the Somali Federal Parliament on the topic at hand were presented and discussed among the participants.
The retreat provided the OC members under the leadership of Chairman Abdi Awale with the opportunity to get acquainted with a number of important constitutional law topics of relevance for the Somali constitutional review process. The Second Deputy Speaker of the House of the People of the Somali Federal Parliament, Mahad Abdalle Awad paid the participants a courtesy visit on the last day and formerly closed the retreat.