Introduction
Puntland Government of Somalia acknowledges the positive trajectory progress that the Somalia Statebuilding process has fruited since the Federal mechanism was accorded in Mbagathi, Kenya in 2004, which Puntland has put remarkable investment to realize a peaceful, united and democratic Federal Government of Somalia. However, Puntland has had raised numerous of serious concerns over the periods regarding the lack of political will and systematic delays in reaching negotiated political settlements that would foster the completion of the provisional Federal Constitution.
The existential challenge is that Mogadishu has been failing to implement all the previous political and legal agreements between Puntland and the Federal Government because the FGS is always circumventing its constitutional mandates and curbs the roles of the FMS. It is also worth mentioning that the FGS had, on 27 May 2023, issued a non inclusive statement aiming to abolish the constitutional Government structure, which could risk both the Federal Government and the FMS to collapse.
Puntland Government believes that NCC is an adhoc, not a legally binding platform and not meant to settle the national contentious issues. The platform has failed to posit inclusive agenda of the statebuilding, and it has recently proposed unconstitutional and non inclusive initiatives. Therefore, Puntland Government has decided to bilaterally negotiate with the Federal Government of Somalia.
The National Contentious Factors
In addition to the fact that the general process of state building in Somalia has constantly grappling with political, security, financial and technical challenges, the following issues have become the integral challenges that Somalis have yet to achieve full resolution. Thus, the Puntland Government is providing herewith its perspective regarding the solutions to the following nation-wide challenges.
The Process of Reviewing and finalizing the Provisional Federal Constitution
The Puntland government based on the challenges surrounding the completion of the Provisional Constitution, posits the solution to the successful completion of the Provisional Constitution as follows:
1.1. The Federal Government and the Puntland Government should first agree on the provisions of the fate of the State Building, especially those contained in the following statements, and then harmonize the Federal and Puntland Constitutions as per to the Constitution of Puntland, article 4, paragraph 2, and then finalize the Federal Provisional Constitution with public referendum.
2. Delineation of Governmental Powers (Power sharing formula)
Puntland government believes that finding a solution to the devolution of political and administrative powers will lead to a lasting solution to the process of finalizing the Provisional Constitution, in order to achieve this, Puntland government is committed to negotiate separately with the FGS as soon as possible and agree on the process of sharing the powers at the federal government level and Puntland state level. Puntland government believes that the delimitation of government powers should be as follows:
2.1. The Federal Republic Government of Somalia must, through consultations, exercise the powers that are enshrined in Article 54 of the Provisional Federal Constitution. These powers are:
a) Foreign Affairs
b) Immigration and Naturalization
c) Monetary Policy
d) National Defense
2.1 The Government of Puntland believes that any other powers and jurisdictions of government, other than those of the Federal Government as stated above in letters a), b), c) and d) shall be under the exclusive constitutional jurisdictions of the Federal Member States to ensure that FMS have complete executive powers enabling them to provide public services for the communities. In regards to the PL and FGS Constitutions, the powers to provide public services such as health, education, water, internal security, judiciary and environmental protection services and foreign trade and investment should be fully under the Jurisdiction of Puntland.
2.2 In accordance to Article 4 of the Constitution of the Puntland Government and Article 142, Paragraph 1 of the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Government of Somalia, until the Federal Consitution is finalized with harmonization to the Constitution of the Puntland Government. The FGS and PL must consult regularly and reach consensus on the implementation of the four powers of the Federal Government as mentioned above.
Puntland Government of Somalia