the rest hereDoha, Qatar - Somalia's transition can be rescued, but only if cooler heads prevail.
Sheikh Bashir Salad, the chairman of the Council of Religious Scholars of Somalia, has issued a statement criticising the content of and the process for legitimising the international community-funded and controlled draft-constitution of Somalia. He has called for openness and transparency in the constitution-making process and demanded that Somalia's religious scholars be consulted. Civic and political forces and several clans followed the religious scholars and made similar demands. In response, the international community has released a warning letter, calling dissenters as spoilers and threatening to punish them. This adds fuel to the fire.
Two factors are behind the deep suspicions that many Somalis have expressed about the draft-constitution. First, Somalis perceive that they do not own the draft-constitution. From its inception in 2005 to the present, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Political Office (UNPOS) led by the Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG) have controlled the constitutional process of Somalia.
"Many Somalis question the wisdom behind rushing a draft-constitution at this time... past governments have prepared at least three constitutions between 1960-1990."
Second, for many Somalis, the fact that the draft-constitution is identified with the SRSG, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga, and the six so-called "stakeholders" is sufficient for its rejection.
Then came his recent remarks against Islamist politicians who formed the Daljir Forum, parliamentarians and other leaders who portrayed the SRSG as anti-Islamic and undemocratic. He made very clear his dissatisfaction to see any of these leaders running. And this came at a time when the widespread belief among Somalis was that the SRSG engineered the Kampala Accord, which unseated one of the most popular governments in Somalia in recent years - and the roadmap that has nullified nascent Somali institutions such as the parliament - only to create and empower six individual politicians.
Moreover, the SRSG's liberal use and abuse of the label "spoiler" against anybody who questions his approach created a credibility deficit for the UN and, thus, for the constitutional process. For many, the roadmap recycles the status quo, as these six individuals have manipulated the process by corrupting the selection of the parliamentarians and the constitutional process.
Third, many Somalis question the wisdom behind rushing a draft-constitution at this time. Somalia's past governments have prepared at least three constitutions between 1960 and 1990. Of these, the 1960 constitution is the most democratic and legitimate because it had been ratified by referendum in 1961.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinio ... 27587.html
