Impediments To Good Governance In Somalia, Study

Somalia has been dismally underperforming in key benchmarks of good governance namely, rule of law, government effectiveness, political stability, public participation, accountability, transparency and control of corruption.

Since the reconstitution of the Somali state in 2000, the country has made a very limited progress in advancing good governance. With respect to the rule of law, the provisional constitution is regarded as incomplete with 15 contentious articles.

The incomplete nature of the provisional constitution exacerbates political instability.

At the political level, elite collaboration invariably collapses and the Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States increasingly squabble.

Most crucially, a continuous intra-group rivalry replaces the rule of law and political infighting unfolds outside of constitutional and legal frameworks.

The constitutional court, which is supposed to review draft legislations, determine the legality of laws passed by the federal parliament and resolve political disputes between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States and organs of the federal government is yet to be established. This in turn, generates what seems to be an incessant political instability and government ineffectiveness, in terms of preventing random outbreaks of violence and offering nationwide security and service delivery.

The media landscape is listed ‘not free’ to meaningfully monitor actions of those in power.

Journalists at Aden Adde International Airport, Mogadishu, Somalia | Photo ©Reuters

Public input and participation in how the country should be governed is largely muted and demand for service delivery and institutional performance is equally limited.

The voice of the civil society is rarely accommodated by the governing elite due to the fragmented nature of civil societies themselves as well as the absence of state institutions that are interested in amplifying or implementing calls for reforms.

Unsurprisingly, Somalia is thus consistently ranked as one of the world’s least transparent and the most corrupt countries, further eroding public confidence.

The unwillingness of the national stakeholders or their inability to build and work within autonomous and functioning public institutions, coupled with the 4.5 political formula perpetuate Somalia’s underperformance in all indicators of good governance.

This study aims to assess the impediments to good governance in Somalia, paying a particular attention to the federal government which the international community has been providing with financial and political support for 20 years.

Policy considerations

1. To stabilize the political interactions of the elite, the responsibility of each level of government should be formally codified in the constitution.
2. The stabilization plan should include the professionalization of security forces and keeping them out of politics.
3. To increase accountability and connect the state-building process with the people, the government at all levels should administratively take the lead in accommodating public voices, an active civil society and a free media landscape.
4. To regulate the political market and impose a legal restraint on the political actors’ temporary loyalty, the rule of law should be restored by establishing the constitutional court or creating other agreed avenues of dispute resolution.
5. To restore public trust in state institutions, the judiciary should reflect the sociocultural history and religious makeup of the Somali people by accommodating Islamic jurisprudence and customary law in the state’s legal system.
6. To improve government effectiveness, employment in state bureaucracy should be based on meritocracy and not the 4.5 political formula, separating day-today political wrangles from institutional administration.
7. To open the political door for public participation, a bottom-up approach of state building should be encouraged by establishing local government as per the constitution, a platform that offers a practical alternative of leadership training and community mobilization.
8. To increase public trust and participation in the governance structure, direct local government election should be held in the FMSs.
9. To increase transparency and reduce corruption, both the FGs & the FMSs should consistently publish data on governmental decisions and public expenditure.
10. The FGS and the FMSs should create media friendly environment to allow public scrutiny and make information available to the public.

READ the FULL Report: http://www.heritageinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Impediments-good-governance-2.pdf