The Foundation supports the Constitutional Oversight Committee at a meeting with the Somali Prime Minister
On 14 October 2020, the Max Planck Foundation participated in a meeting between the Constitutional Oversight Committee of the Somali Federal Parliament, the Independent Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission and the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs with the newly appointed Somali Prime Minister, HE Mohamed Hussein Roble.
On behalf of the Constitutional Oversight Committee, the Foundation provided an assessment of the current stage of the constitutional review process and presented on the main features of the second draft constitutional amendment document. The participants then discussed actual challenges of the process, i.e. the difficult relations between the Federal Government and some of the Federal Member States, the current focus on the 2020 parliamentary elections, the implications of the end of term of the Somali Federal Parliament for the validity of the Somali Provisional Constitution as well as actual challenges to secure a two-thirds majority vote necessary for the adoption of the second draft constitutional amendment document.
The Constitutional Oversight Committee, the Independent Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission and the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs urged the Prime Minister to make the constitutional review process a priority for his time in office and to work with the Federal President, the Presidents of the Federal Member States and with the two Speakers of the Somali Federal Parliament towards the adoption of non-contentious constitutional review issues before the end of the current parliamentary term. Prime Minister Roble assured the participants of his support and promised to make the constitutional review process one of the priorities for his discussions with the Federal President and other stakeholders.
The Foundation continues to support the constitutional review process in Somalia through the provision of technical and legal advice for the Constitutional Oversight Committee. This support is an important component of the project “Legal Capacity Building and Technical Support for the Somali Federal Parliament”, which is generously funded by the European Union.