The Somaliland Independent Scholars Group Implementing

The Somaliland Independent Scholars Group Implementing The Mediation Committee's Recommendations

Dr. Mohamed Fadal

I. Introduction

On 10th of May 2009, a group of 12 Somaliland scholars met at Ambassador Hotel to discuss the implementation of the Mediation Committee's Recommendations released on 29th April, 2009. The meeting was moderated by Dr. Mohamed Fadal, Director of (SORADI). The participants of the meeting were all long-term participants of Somaliland rebuilding and democratization process, who are considered to be highly competent to provide an objective analysis and strategy to implement the above recommendations as useful framework for cooperation among all stakeholders of the Somaliland Presidential Election. They were: Abdilkadir H Ismail Jirde (Ex-Deputy Speaker and Member of Parliament), Shukri H. Bandare (Former National Electoral Commissioner and Member of African Democracy Forum and Chair of Candle Light); Ibrahim Jama Ali -Rayte (Member of Parliament and Lawyer), Fawsi Aw Yoonis (Somaliland Lawyer's Association); Abdi Ahmed Nour (Forum for Peace and Governance-FOBAG), Bobe Y. Duale (Research Coordinator, APD), Haroon H Ahmed Qulumbe (ActionAid), Jafar Mohamed Gadaweyne (SONSAF); Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim (Researcher-APD), Suad Ibrahim Abdi (Researcher-APD); Ayan Ashur (Somaliland Focus). 

II. Expectations From the Recommendations 

The Somaliland Independent Scholar's Group commends the Mediation Committee's efforts and achievements in an otherwise very challenging undertaking. The Group also commends the President and the two Chairmen of the opposition political parties, who heeded the public demand, which included a call from this Group, to sit together and discuss their political differences in the spirit of consensus and dialogue. 

The Somaliland Scholar's Group sees the Mediation Committee's Recommendations as a reasonable framework for all actors to work together to hold the upcoming Somaliland Presidential Election within the set timelines. Among all Somalilanders and their international friends, the Mediation Committee's efforts generated intense interest. The expectations from the Committee's efforts could be condensed into three main outcomes: 

1.  To diffuse the rising political tension 
2.  To build trust among key stakeholders 
3.  To produce working strategy document or a Code of Conduct as a signed binding agreement to address the election problems facing Somaliland. 


Dabdamis (fire-extinguisher) 
The first expectation and probably the most important one is characterised by this group as "Dabdamis". The Mediation Committee has achieved an astounding success in this respect. The growing tensions within the Somaliland society, resulting from the ensuing political conflict, have been diffused. It is now fair to say that, there is a better possibility for key political actors to continue dialogue among themselves. 

Trust Building: 
The immediate product of any agreement is to trust your opponent to be able to fulfil what is agreed upon and therefore to move forward from your earlier position to develop together a more cooperative climate. This agreement between the three political parties has to serve that purpose. The Somaliland Independent Scholar's Group, the Mediation Committee and many other already active sectors of the society are definitely prepared to take their part to facilitate the agreement and to ensure its full implementation. However, despite the fact that the general climate has improved, so far we do not see any improvement in the trust levels between the political leaders and their close circles. 

Signed Agreement: 
The Group believes that, what we received from the Mediation Committee was a set of recommendations, not enough in itself as an agreement. It is necessary to take the second step to transform the recommendations into an agreement, to develop it into a Code of Conduct signed by the three negotiating leaders. Although the President had expressed his acceptance verbally, there is definitely a need for a "written signed document(s)" to implement it as a binding Code of Conduct, to build trust among the key stakeholders, to share it with our international partners, and to keep it in our archives for our children and for future generations and above all for history to judge us. 

III. Implementation of Recommendations 

The Independent Scholar's Group prioritized the Mediation Committee's Recommendations to adopt three key articles to analyse and to develop a strategy for an implementation framework; we selected the following three issue areas: The "No more extension issue", the "National Electoral Commission" and the "Equitable distribution of public resources for the National Political Parties". 

The Extension Issue: 
The Group concurs with the Mediation Committee on their position of "No more Extensions"; we take it further to say that "no more extensions ever, unless strictly qualifying for an undisputed "Force Majeure" Situation, which has to also be strictly defined by further legislation". 

The Independent Scholar's Group identifies on the basis of Somaliland's experience two possible categories of extension causes a) Extension resulting from failure to hold elections on time, and b) Extension resulting from a "Force Majeure" situation. The extensions undertaken so far, since 2006 could be categorized as failure to hold elections (with perhaps some reasonable allowance of a Force Majeure situation for the 29.10 bombings). Before 2006, extensions may have given us a reprieve to bridge selection processes, because of lack stability and also absence of required institutions. However, after that, their negative impact outweighs their benefits to the Somaliland development and democratization processes. If extensions are continued as part of our culture of governance, then we are rewarding failure and we are removing the motivation of the incumbent to work hard and to strive to be re-elected. In the same token, at the international community level, extensions are perceived as Somaliland's inability for good governance, which is a failure from our side and failure is not rewarded by the international community. Therefore, the practice of "extensions" is depleting the credibility and friendship capital, which the Somaliland people have earned and accumulated over the years through hard work since 1991. 

Despite the fact that, enough damage has been done already, we still have the capability to recover from it, if we focus our efforts to solve the problem in the longer-term perspective. To tackle the legal controversy, we will need a heavy dose of goodwill and trust among our political leaders, including not only the party Chairmen, but also the leadership of the legislative Houses. A lasting solution could easily come from passing a legislation based on a consensus agreement and goodwill from the above leaders. We urge the legislative houses and the President of Somaliland to fulfil their legislative and executive responsibilities towards the Somaliland people to settle this issue before the 27 September 2009 Election. With this legislation you can remove the perpetual state of constitutional crisis we have been experiencing since 2006 and unleash tremendous energies and desire from the people to move forward with our state building and democratization process. 

The National Electoral Commission. 

The NEC has a critical role to play in the advancement of democracy in Somaliland. The first NEC is recognized to have fulfilled its responsibilities towards this goal in an exemplary manner and in difficult circumstances. Its members deserve to be recognized by the people as well as the national leadership for their service to the nation. The present NEC has a difficult task facing it, but what seems to be even more difficult for its members is to prepare and organize themselves to take up the challenge. 

The Independent Scholar's Group had a lengthy debate on the National Electoral Commission issue as an important article in the Mediation Committee's Recommendations. The thrust of the discussion was on the merits and demerits of taking the longer-term view and addressing the NEC issue head-on to seek a lasting solution and to revamp it completely.  However, the general consensus was that our present circumstance, dictated by repeated postponements of the elections, would not permit us to risk a situation that can lead to delaying the election any further from the 27th of September 2009 date. Therefore the Group has adopted following standpoints:

First: Opting to changing the entire NEC membership is a risky route to take. The time we have until the September 2009 election is about only three months.  Considering this our choices are definitely limited to live with the present group. Even, if all other things go well, the new members will need time to learn about the job. Therefore we have to consider other options. 

Secondly: The best option now is to strengthen with more members if possible and to create adequate support systems to fill the gaps in their present capacities. There are now several supporting mechanisms available for them to avail, which may need also to be empowered more robustly to assist NEC. On the other hand some of their management and logistical responsibilities can be outsourced to other professional entities. Further more, available members from the First NEC, who are not involved in political parties, could also be engaged to support the present NEC. 

Thirdly: The Group believes that most of their problems are self-generated. Therefore, without them recognizing the gravity of their situation and the need to put their house in order, the above measures may not have the desired effect. Further more, it is not only Somaliland people who are concerned about the situation, but also the international community, which is supporting us and which expects us to learn from the regional post-election destabilization experiences, especially Kenya. 

The Server: 

The server issue seems to be the wild card in the whole Somaliland election debate. In our last position paper issued on 19 March 2009, the Group not only supported the process, but also acknowledged the role Somalilanders have played in complicating the work of the server as an important factor in delaying the process of getting quick and reliable results from the biometric system. Subsequent developments have since eased the pressure on the server system to produce immediate results, especially when the election date was postponed until 27 September. 

The Independent Scholar's Group is asking itself, why couldn't the companies and agencies responsible for the SERVER process provide a reasonable but firm target completion date as well as an estimate of what percentage of its work has been accomplished, to help all concerned plan their election strategies. Two Presidential candidates are on the record to have expressed their unease over the server process. This Group still recognizes that tremendous financial and human resources have been expended on the Voter Registration Process from the international community as well as from the Somaliland people and still believe that its intentions were right and that the resources were spent on the right cause. However, it is incumbent upon the contractors and supervising agencies to provide the necessary information and answer the questions raised after that, it is up to the Somaliland leaders, institutions and people to decide whether the expected outputs can be useful for their forthcoming Presidential Election. 

The Group does not deny that some information may have already been provided by the concerned agencies; however, what we are saying is that there is not enough information available in the public domain and therefore, speculation is rife, especially when national leaders demonstrate their uncertainties about the usefulness of the server operations and products to the election. Whatever the outcome, this has been a profound undertaking by the Somaliland state and people with the support of the international Community to effect a fundamental change in the way we process our elections and towards the attainment of our free and fair elections goals. 

Finally, the Group raised the need for the national concerned institutions to look ahead and start discussing the future custody of the database and the standardization of the registration process to accommodate new entrants into the voter registration lists.

Promotion of Free and Fair Elections: Use of Public Media Outlets and Property

The Somaliland Independent Scholar's Group are committed to promote holding fair, free and peaceful elections in Somaliland. The equitable use of public resources is an important pillar of the free and fair election principles. Public resources are bought, built and run with tax-payers money and not with any political group's resources. Therefore, by law, these resources should be used and accessed equitably by all political candidates and parties. Since the President and both Chairmen of the opposition parties accepted the Mediation Committee Recommendations in principle, The National Electoral Commission should lead a process of discussions among the parties to sign a Code of Conduct through their good offices as a guiding framework for the "Free, Fair and Peaceful" election process. Some of the key issues, which the Code of Conduct will address include: 

i.  Integrity Committee 

The formation of a National Integrity Committee to take full responsibility and have clear mandate to ensure that all public owned resources are accessed equitably by all political parties and their candidates. This is to ensure that the candidates and their parties have full and unhindered opportunity to pass their messages to the voters and to share equitably the available public resources. This Committee, while independent in its mandate will closely work with NEC, the three political parties, and other election stakeholders. 

ii. Equitable Sharing of Public Media Broadcasting and Coverage Access 

- Establish a monitoring framework for all three political candidates and their parties to have equal air-time access to Radio Hargeisa and the Somaliland National TV and Equal coverage from Maandeeq Newspaper. 
- Strengthen the legal framework through the promulgation of a Political Broadcasting and Media Coverage Law, which establishes the legal and regulatory aspect of this issue. 

iii. Physical Properties and Executive Authority Issues 

1.  For all concerned to refrain from use of Government Transport, buildings and any other physical and financial facilities not permitted by law. 
2.  State executive officials' powers and work-time are all publicly owned. All civil servants are barred by law from engaging in partisan political activities. That does not of course bar them from casting their vote for the candidate of their choice. 

The Group urges the international community not to confine its monitoring support to the campaign and election days, but to extend it to the ongoing process of ensuring development of free, fair and peaceful election culture. We urge all key actors to contribute to efforts designed to raise public awareness including all government employees on the legal and moral obligation of all citizens to uphold the principle of "Free, Fair and Peaceful" Election. The group recognizes that elections are the sole right of the Somaliland people to change or reinstate their leadership and that all elections have to be held on time. 

The national media should play its role in promoting the development of free and fair and peaceful election culture through its self-regulation mechanism. All Media Outlets are expected to sign and abide by an updated Somaliland Press Code of Conduct. 

Finally, it is incumbent upon all sectors of the Somaliland society to appreciate their achievements in building their state, embarking on a democratic path and enjoying the fruits of the peace, stability and progress they worked so hard for and indeed for the 18th year running.