Somalia’s 550 parliamentarians to be downsized

If not the second largest assembly in Africa, Somalia’s parliament leads the continent in number with 550 members of parliament, whose legislative works are limited to showing up for controversial political motions.

However, yesterday’s consultative meeting in Mogadishu put the size of the parliament on the limelight, proposing that reform is the way forward.

But critics fielded that call with suspicion as the President Sharif Ahmed, who proposed the reform, severed relations with the parliament on multiple occasions.

“We know that both our people and the government can’t accommodate the burden of 550 members of parliament. The need for this number was based on early circumstance and that is now behind us. But we need now a reform that wouldn’t marginalize any group” said President Sharif in his speech on yesterday.

The difficult part that makes any reform explosive is the distribution of power based on the 4.5 formula. For some, the formula constitutes a controversy that often questions the legitimacy of the government, but for others it serves conveniently the clan interest in a way that affords a visible political recognition.

Constitutional crisis

The transitional federal government (TFG) was mired by constant infighting that pitted government branches against each other. Analysts have attributed that to the set up of the transitional constitution which hardly defines responsibilities of both the executive and the legislative branches.

With a nonexistent judiciary branch, the TFG has many times relapsed into unnecessary legal squabbling that prompted IGAD (intergovernmental agency on development) and UN’s political office to intervene.

Downsize means a political battle ahead

Certainly, some parliamentarians are bound to maintain their positions since elections are not scheduled in next year. But that depends on the degree in which one is entrenched in the political system.

However, many MP’s will not be fortunate as the current assembly is blamed for not only ineffectiveness, but also for incompetency.

The other looming challenge to tackle beyond the transition is the criteria upon which the forthcoming parliamentarians are going to be selected.

But some are already pointing the finger to the large stockpile of available human resources in the Diaspora, which if tapped, can address this issue.

In any case, what happens in the next 12 months hinges largely on the security condition in Mogadishu and the efforts made by the consultative group, which if undertaken responsibly, will steer the country to a safe course of smooth transition.

Source: Hiiraan Online