Presentation of the State Constitutions Compatibility Study to the Somali Prime Minister

Somali Prime Minister receives copies of the Foundation’s latest publication on federalism in Somalia

At an official ceremony organised at the Office of the Prime Minister on 26 January 2021, the Foundation presented its latest publication on Somali federalism, the State Constitutions Compatibility Study, to HE Mohamed Hussein Roble, the Prime Minister of the Somali Federal Government. The Study is a comparative review of all five Federal Member State Constitutions in Somalia with the Federal Provisional Constitution of 2012 and was prepared under the German Federal Foreign Office funded project Capacity Building and Legal Advice on Political Decentralisation and Federalism in Somalia.

The Federal Provisional Constitution of Somalia came into force on 1 August 2012 and envisaged the creation of a Federal Republic comprising of constituting Federal Member States. So, in addition to the Constitution of Puntland which predated the Federal Provisional Constitution, the other four Federal Member States of Somalia i.e. Galmudug, Hirshebelle, Jubaland, and South West State, adopted their own State Constitutions. In order to facilitate the creation of a coherent constitutional legal framework, the Foundation developed a comprehensive study analysing the compatibility of these five Federal Member States Constitutions with the Federal Provisional Constitution. The study identified a number of issues ranging from differences in terminologies to open regulatory contradictions.

The study was published in Somali and English and its main findings were now presented to Prime Minister Roble along with two other publications of the Foundation related to Somali federalism, namely the Comparative Federalism Manual and the Federalism Glossary. The Prime Minister very much appreciated these publications and lauded the Planck Foundation for its efforts towards the improvement of the regulatory frameworks for federalism in Somalia.

Similar ceremonies are planned with other stakeholders of the Somali federalisation process, including the Presidents of the five Federal Member States.