27 May 27, 2009 - 1:39:07 PM
GAROWE, Somalia May 27 (Garowe Online) - Lawmakers in the Somali semiautonomous State of Puntland were formally presented the region’s new constitution on Tuesday, Radio Garowe reports.
Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed “Farole,” the president of Puntland, opened the extraordinary session of parliament with a speech detailing the process and contents of the new constitution.
Puntland President Abdirahman Farole
“It [constitution] is composed of 141 Articles,” President Farole told Puntland MPs, adding: “After parliament’s vote, the constitution will be up for a public referendum.”
The 66-seat Puntland Parliament is supposed to read and debate the new constitution on Saturday, parliament sources said.
Mr. Abdirashid Mohamed Hersi, the Speaker of parliament, told Radio Garowe afterwards that some MPs expressed disappointment with the use of the phrase “Northeast Regions” instead of “Puntland” in the constitution’s preamble.
Lawmakers from the regions of Sool and Sanaag were disappointed with the phrase, arguing that those regions are historically and geographically located in northwest Somalia.
But Speaker Hersi rejected media rumors that a fistfight erupted inside parliament hall in Garowe, the capital of Puntland State, suggesting that it was “propaganda and speculation” since no reporters were allowed inside parliament at the time.
