​Somalia: Farole accuses Constitution Minister of misleading the public about the constitution

GAROWE, Puntland- Federal Senator and former Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has slammed recent remarks made by Federal Minister of Constitution claiming the country’s provisional constitution wasn’t tampered, Garowe Online reports.

During a meeting held in Garowe city, the capital of Somalia’s northeastern region of Puntalnd, Federal Minister of Constitution, Abdirahman Jibirl Hosh said that no changes have been made to the Somali provisional constitution.

Asked by an audience in the meeting about his Ministry's stand on the changes made to the constitution during the past administration without legal mandates, Minister Hosh said; "This matter is a conspiracy theory. After the constitution was adopted amendment was made to three articles on 7 September 2012, one of it was due to typing error. The articles pertaining terms of the President and Federal Parliament, the status of the capital and nullification of the Upper House were changed,"

"The signatories can't endorse constitution, they can agree on political agreement not drafting constitution," he added.

The statement refers to public outrage to the amendment made to the provisional constitution which endorsed by Somali leaders and UN in 2012

The meeting was organized by the Federal Constitution Affairs Ministry, aiming to kick start the process of reviewing the constitutions for national referendum.

Speaking to Radio Garowe (RG) from his residence in Australia, Senator Farole highlighted about the course of adopting the provisional constitution before it was endorsed jointly by the Transitional Federal government and regional administrations, and witnessed by UN special envoy to Somalia Augustine Philip Mahiga in 2012. 

Farole accused Minister Hosh of misleading the public and noted that printed constitution was tampered with and differs from the original script that was signed by the official signatories.

He also added “Yes, it was a political agreement but it was also a draft constitution for the nation which was brought to the National Constituent Assembly for a yes and no vote.”

‘It is an insult from Hosh to claim it is conspiracy theories and lies, and this matter could be placed under scrutiny” added Farole.

He noted that Hosh interfered in the tasks of the parliamentary committee of the Federal Parliament that is responsible to oversee the review process of the constitution according to articles 132, 133 and 134.

"Each Federal member states will have 2 members, one attached to the parliamentary committees that will oversee the constitutional review process, and the other will be attached to the independent review committee."

Farole urged Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed Farmajo and Prime Minister Hasan Ali Khayre to interfere in light of the current process carried out by Minister Hosh, which could lead to unfortunate outcomes.

The Somali provisional constitution was signed in June 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya as back then President Farole played a major role to end the mandate of Transitional Federal government and adopt the provisional constitution till a national referendum is carried out.

GAROWEONLINE