Drafted by the Independent Federal Constitution Commission
Dated, Sealed and Issued by Independent Federal Constitution Commission on 30th July 2010.
Prapared by Abdikhafar Abubakar on May 19, 2012.
ü I would recommend that the name of Allah written in Arabic “Bismillahi Raxmani Raxim” to be removed from the Constitution due to the fact of that this document will be handled by both Muslims and Non-Muslims and could end up to be taken to the toilet, which is disrespectful to Allah’s name when someone takes it to the toilet. It is narrated from the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) that he used to remove his ring that was engraved with “Muhammad Rasululah” whenever he was going to the toilet.
ü More editing and grammatical corrections are needed to be done to the entirety of the Constitution.
ü Chapter 2 is missing from the Table of Contents even though Article 9, elements of citizens is the start of Chapter 2 – Citizenships.
ü Take out the word “Amen” or modify it to the word “Amin” at the end of the Preample.
ü Grammatical correction is needed in Article 3 at the beginning of the second sentence.
ü Article 5, Official Languages, I suggest the Official Language of the country to be left with the language that the majority of the the Somali people can understand and can communicate with each other, which is this case is Maxaa-tiri. Regional States have a right to adopt whatever language they prefer to have as their official language.
ü Article 22, Freedom of Religion. Paragraph 1 and 2 are conflicting with each other. Based on the majority of the Somali people who are Muslims, one cannot practice his/her religion without renouncing Islam, and also, there is no mention of the consequence of renouncing Islam. This article needs a careful discussion due to the fact of that there are a number Somali people who already renounced Islam, especially those from the Diaspora.
ü Article 26, Freedom of Movement and Residence has grammatical errors.
ü Article 40, Arrested, detained and accused persons. Sub-paragraph (b) of the paragraph (6) is wrongly worded. A Fair Trail doesn’t include the right to be convicted on the basis of a forced confession. Sub-paragraphs (g) and (h) needs to be made as paragraphs.
ü Article 56, The Principles of federalism of the Republic has to be clear enough so that all players know their responsibility and power entrusted into them.
ü Article 58, International negotiations, no need for local governments to have a say into this otherwise the Federal Government will not have a power at all. Check the system of the US Government.
ü Article 67, The National Capital. I suggest it to be left with Mogadishu and without a regional state. Make it like Washington, D.C. with representatives. Option 2 is the best.
ü More to come soon …………