Qormadii 8 aad. Wuxuu ku saabsanyahay habaynta qaabka State -ka. MANAGING FAILURE ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS Part I: Social Restructuring • Strategic Planning for State Restructuring We will start this section with a rudimentary description of government structure. The engine of the government is the leader, the cabinet (ministers) and other government agencies. They are the executive branch of government and their job is to run the state. Passing new laws and amending existing ones is the job of parliament, also known as the legislature. It is the legislative branch of the government. These two branches work under the watchful eye of an independent judiciary. Once a law is passed, it is the Judiciary’s duty to pass judgments according to it. An independent judiciary usually has interpretive authority and other discretionary powers that allow it to administer law in a just and reasonable manner. Thus, of the three branches, the judiciary is the most important in dispensing justice to the public while protecting it from government excess. The nature of the three branches of government, the extent of their powers and how they relate to each other is defined by the constitution. A constitution is a collection of essential values and established norms of a society by which it governs itself. It defines the rights, privileges and responsibilities of the individual, the public and the state. By the same token it outlines the nature of these rights, privileges and responsibilities and sets the limits for them. One of the most crucial functions of a constitution is to limit the power of the state over its citizens. A constitution may be codified i.e. contained in a single document from which all constitutional law flows. Most of the world’s states have this kind of constitution; the United States of America is an example. Other nations such as the United Kingdom, have uncodified constitutions. An uncodified constitution is not written in a single document, but consists of a variety of sources. This kind of constitution may derive its laws from constitutional statutes enacted by parliament as well as unwritten sources such as historic legal precedents, constitutional conventions, societal norms and other traditions. In general, a codified constitution is entrenched. This means it cannot be lightly altered or amended. To amend or change this kind of constitution various processes have to take place such as; an overwhelming or unanimous legislative vote in a special constitutional convention, a nationwide referendum and majority votes from all provincial legislatures in the case of a federal system. In a state with a codified constitution, constitutional law supersedes ordinary statute law (laws passed by the legislative body i.e. Parliament). By contrast, uncodified constitutions such as that of the U.K. and Canada may be amended by a simple majority in the legislature. Countries with this kind of constitution rely on a long history of judicial practice, a treasure trove of legal precedents and well established societal values when tackling constitutional issues. Based on the above analysis, I believe that Puntland, indeed Somalia, needs a codified and well entrenched constitution. An uncodified constitution which is easily altered will not do for us. This is because we do not have the jurisprudential history of an advanced nation like the U.K. or Canada. An uncodified constitution can be manipulated by a leadership with authoritarian tendencies to extend its power over the people. Our legal institutions, much like those of other third world nations, are not strong or established enough to counter the ambitions of a would be dictator, hence, the need for a strong, codified and well-entrenched constitution. Among others, the following features must be firmly entrenched in Puntland’s constitution if it is going to be of any use to us: Islam: We are a homogeneously Muslim nation and that should be explicit in the document. The first article must establish deference to the laws of Allah and all the constitutional laws must be compatible with the Quran and Sunnah. The Extent of government Power and responsibility: An effective constitution clearly defines where government authority ends and the rights of the citizen start. This is essential in combating authoritarian tendencies that are all too common in African administrations. Similarly, when government power and responsibility is well defined, the various branches and institutions of government can properly assess their equipment and personnel needs and submit a concise budget to the legislature for approval. As a result, and more importantly, the legislature has a clear idea of how much tax to levy in order to cover government expenditure. Another important reason for clearly demarcating the borders of government is to create an understanding among the citizens of how much of their lives the government is responsible for. For example the state may be constitutionally obliged to provide free education for your children through the public school system, but making sure the children attend school and excel is your responsibility and not the government’s. Our constitution has to establish clear limitations on the power of the state over its citizens in order to protect the citizens from government excess and to make government more efficient, focused and accountable. Fundamental Freedoms: The above mentioned limitations to government power should be set around certain inalienable rights and freedoms of the public, minorities and individuals. Chief among these are: Freedom of thought, speech and opinion. Freedom of movement. Freedom of assembly. Freedom of religion and association. Freedom of political affiliation. Freedom of information (government transparency). Freedom from persecution. Freedom from unwarranted detention, searches and seizure of property. The right to a fair and speedy trial. The right to peaceful protest. The right to vote. The right to privacy. These rights and freedoms must be enshrined in the constitution of Puntland to the point that it would take a serious state-wide dialogue to amend or alter them. If this is not done, there is little to stop an authoritarian regime from rolling back the rights of citizens and eroding their freedoms. Separation of Powers: Governance in Somalia, whether regional or federal, is a synonym for chaos. Ministers are leading militias into battle and members of parliament are flying around the world making unauthorized declarations to the diaspora about government policy. The president of the TFG and his prime minister are endlessly rebuking each other in a political turf war while the speaker of the parliament is in non-stop talks with foreign governments without consulting anyone else. There is a fundamental lack of understanding within the various branches and institutions of government about the nature and limits of their authority. An effective constitution confers specific powers and responsibilities to the three branches of government as well as institutions within these branches. For instance, the constitution would set the hierarchy of the executive branch by dividing it into head of state, ministries, executive agencies and bureaucracy (civil service) and may set term limits for certain positions such as the head of state. It also lays down the rules for the interaction between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. For example, the document would make it clear that the legislature has the power to set the budget for the executive and pass laws while the judiciary has the power to take action against members of both branches if they exercise powers beyond the constitutional limits of their office. By the same token, the legislature may nullify court judgments that explicitly contradict the constitution. Thus the three branches are relatively independent while acting as checks and balances for one other. Puntland must adopt a comprehensive constitution that limits the extent of government to make it more effective and goal oriented. The lines of government power have to be drawn around the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens. Similarly, the lines of authority between government branches and institutions must be well defined. It is imperative, in the case of basic rights and freedoms and the division of powers, that the constitution is well entrenched and has supremacy over statute law. Entrenchment would go a long way to thwart the efforts of a power hungry leader who seeks to abolish term limits or consolidate power by undermining the legislature and weakening the judiciary. Some authoritarian practices will have to be left in the past. In a representative government, it is illegal for the head of state to produce what is called “Wareegto” (to rule by decree). If the leader can write a letter and then signs it to law, and at the same time has the power to enforce that law, then there is no separation of powers and the government is totalitarian. If the leader wants to enhance the existing laws, he has to put it in writing and present it to the parliament as a new bill. The parliament should schedule the bill for a reading, amend it if necessary and then vote on it. Remember, the parliament should act as the representatives of the public. They have to make sure, that the leader’s proposal is fair to the people and not intended to serve the interests of a few. The bill should not be politically motivated and should be free from conflict of interest. Bills may also be introduced by a member of parliament. If it gets the necessary majority vote then it is signed into law by the head of state and it becomes law. In accordance with the constitution, all laws should be compatible with the Islamic Sharia. Consequently, if a law which runs afoul of the Sharia is passed it may be deemed unconstitutional by the Sharia Council and overturned. This council is a wing of the judiciary made up of five top jurors that are specialized in Islamic jurisprudence. Remember the judiciary is the guardian of the constitution. Appointing an effective Sharia Council will necessitate wisdom and deliberation on the part of government. The appointees must be highly educated and hold Sharia majors while demonstrating an ability to understand the circumstances and judge based on the realities of the particular case. It is indispensable that the vetting process for the judges be fair and thorough in order to avoid conflict between the government and the public. Due to the opposing faith groups within the state, the process of selecting this council would have to walk a fine line. To minimize the unnecessary hurdles that may flare up, the government is obliged to consider the candidates with the highest academic qualifications. The leader of the state would nominate the members with parliament having the power to accept or reject the nominations. Once this Sharia committee is in place, the parliament will be able to seek their judgment on complicated issues involving Sharia related matters. The Sharia judges could be partnered with other constitutional judges to comprise a Supreme Court which would double as a Constitutional Court. Under the theory of “Distribution of Authority”, land and authority are divided into known jurisdictions. Below, we will examine the distribution of land and authority in the United States before we discuss the best alternative for the state of Puntland. There are fifty states in the United States of America. Each state is divided into a number of counties, and each county is sub-divided into a number of wards. Counties are not cut out in equal sizes. The size of each county is fixed and never changes unless there are disputes. Each county has its police forces, courts, jails, vehicle registration and licensing offices, schools, sheriff and fire departments, business bureau, etc. The county provides nearly all the governmental services to its residents. The county leader is elected by the people of the county. His/her title is CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Also, counties have elected commission members, each of which is elected from one ward or, as it‘s sometimes called, school district. The CEO and the commission, who are elected by the people of the county, conduct most of the government’s services in the county. The county administration follows up with almost everything in the county. For example, an investor wants to construct a fast food restaurant at a street corner. In this case, the investor will first put together his/her complete design papers for the projected building and present them to the county administration for approval. The county administration will then set a date for hearing. The county will announce the news of the new restaurant and inform all the businesses and residents in the vicinity of the proposed building. On the hearing day, the commission will determine if the zoning is correct for the proposed fast food service. That is because, the county has areas that are designated for light industries, heavy industries, worship, entertainment, parks and recreation ,schools, office buildings, food services, and residential purposes, etc. If the piece of real estate that is being developed for the fast food restaurant is located in food services section, then the county commission should not raise any zoning issues. If not, they will easily reject the developer’s request for construction permit. The commission also examines if the developer’s blueprint is approved by the county engineers. The county engineers verify if the sewage system, electric power system, water system, wall materials and thickness/height, ceiling and roofing materials, safety system, air system, emergency exits, sidewalks, planted trees, etc. are compliant with safety and other relevant standards. The county engineers are responsible for the quality standards and will keep rejecting the developer’s construction design before it even gets to the county commission till he/she satisfies their expectations. Their good work is what made the United States so beautiful in design and organization. In the United States, most of the US highways were built for defense purposes. You will find these highways in almost every city, but even today, they are under federal control. If your property is located on US highway, you should also get approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, so that they examine the volume of the traffic your business may create and also the safety of the entries and exits to your facility. This step should take place before you face the county commission during the hearing. When the hearing begins, the commission first examines if the developer has passed their test. For example, they check if the developer can get enough water, electricity, telephone and waste lines. If the water company doesn’t have any excess water, they will hold the approval of the new construction till there is surplus of water and same for the other resources. In that, the citizen will not waste money on a structure that will have problems down the road and not provide his/her needs in the future. Also, the commission verifies what percentage of the property the actual building will occupy and what percentage will be left for sidewalk and vegetation. After being assured of everything, the commission then asks the public if anyone has objections to the new neighbor. If not, the commission issues the construction and hoarding permits for the developer. This was to demonstrate some highlights of county level government roles in the United States. In some cases, you may find overlapping county and city administrations. City administrations are privately created corporations, whereas all counties are created by the government of United States. Any group of citizens can get together and incorporate a city, provided that they meet the requirements. For example, the new city should have an open land that can be used as a park. It should have enough businesses that can provide employment opportunities for a certain number of people. The city should also have enough tax payers registered in its corporation, so that it can cover its expenses. If the city creates its police and sheriff departments, the county will reduce the number of police that is dedicated to the area. The city leader is called Mayor or City Manager and is elected by the people registered within the city. The city also has an elected council that acts as its legislature. The city government will also be responsible of the schools, fire department, and many other things. The distribution of roles and responsibilities between county and city governments vary from one state to another. In general, the bigger the city controls gets, the smaller the county influence becomes and vice-verse. The reason is; if there are no cities incorporated within a particular county, the county government takes all the local taxes and, therefore remains strong. By the same token when there are many cities in a county, municipal governments get a substantial share of the local taxes of their respective residents since it is they that provide most of the services, thereby decreasing the authority of the county administration. County administrations do not always favor city incorporations, but usually, have no authority to block the will of the majority. There are various reasons why residents of a certain area might opt to quit the county administration and privately create their own city administrations. People choose to incorporate their own cities mostly for better school systems, but also for other service upgrade purposes or having the opportunity to pass tougher laws and setting higher standards for their area. The incorporation of a new city, however, is not always in the best interest of everyone as we shall see in the following example: Imagine a city divided along economic lines. Imagine that the wealthy residents who pay 80% of municipal taxes live in the south of the city while the poor residents who pay only 20% of the taxes live in the north. It would not surprise anyone if the rich south decided to secede and incorporate its own city; after all, their enormous municipal taxes would benefit only their area instead of subsidizing the poorer neighborhoods. This would mean better schools, transit, roads, police, etc. for their new city because services paid for by their taxes would benefit their area only. The new city’s improved services would advance its quality of life and attract new residents. Thus, property values would sky rocket, making its wealthy residents even richer. The poor northern side, however, would suffer significantly because, without the rich southern residents who had previously paid 80% of all taxes, their meager taxes would only be able to fund a very limited budget. Consequently, municipal services such as schools, policing, water, sewerage, garbage collection, etc. would shrink considerably, thereby, resulting in unemployment, lower education and high crime rates. Property values would also plummet, robbing home owners of their equity. When a new city emerges, property owners have the choice to remain in their old city or join the newly incorporated city. As a result it is not uncommon to see two adjacent homes registered in two different cities, sending their children to different school districts. As we have seen, the American system of distribution of authority is generally good and could serve as a model in Puntland except in the case of city incorporation. The way cities are incorporated in the U.S, opens the door to selfishness, class conflicts, and pure capitalism. There are many economic, social and legal dilemmas in large urban areas in the U.S. that could be attributed to the way the cities are incorporated. The U.S. system for the distribution of authority, with some exceptions, would work very well for the state of Puntland. Puntland would be divided into ten counties of equal size. County administrations would be set up, copying the United States county system described earlier. For the near future we would have to forgo city administrations due to the sheer lack of funds. Moreover, some services such as policing will remain in the hands of the state as mentioned before for the sake of efficiency and effectiveness. The distribution of authority allows the public to have more say in how they are governed. Local bylaws can be enacted by local administrations to meet the concerns of the residents of a particular county instead of forcing sweeping nationwide laws on them. It returns some power and authority to the grassroots and that is a healthy antidote to the public disloyalty and government ineffectiveness that prevails throughout Puntland. So far in this section, we have illustrated the overall picture of how authority and land can be successfully distributed within the state. The county grid should only be implemented after the Public Address Book project is fully established in order to avoid sudden migrations or undesirable strategic voting by the various clans. Every citizen should have already been assigned Public Address Book (PAB) boxes in their freely chosen locality before they find out which jurisdiction they will come under in the distribution of authority. By now the new, albeit basic, geographical and demo-graphical view of the state of Puntland will have been complete. The next step is to establish the political lay of the land. It is of the utmost importance that the state has a freely and fairly elected legislature. The source of legitimacy should literally be the people themselves. A leadership that has a questionable validity can’t lead effectively. Each member of the state’s parliament body must be elected from one single electoral constituency or riding. There should be no validation of overlapping representational consents. When an individual or group of people have an issue to communicate to government, they will write to their MP and through him/her their voice will be heard. It’s the job of the MP’s to keep the government and the constituents connected. The days when a few tribal actors would sit at the table and bargain with the fate of entire clans without seeking consent should be over for good. There are about sixty six seats in the house, therefore, the state should be divided into sixty six electoral constituencies, or, if you will, electoral districts. After elections are complete, each electoral district should send one winner candidate to the Capital. The electoral district data should be maintained by the elections committee. This committee would know the number of citizens registered in each county and where their address boxes are located. If there are for example, three million registered addresses within the state, and there are sixty six seats to fill during in an election, each electoral constituent will be comprised of roughly fifty thousand addresses. The committee should count the first fifty thousand address boxes and call it electoral district one, count the next equal number of address boxes and call it electoral district two, and so on. They don’t have to go and physically count the address boxes, because they can access the already established address book database maintained by the department of postal services. This database should provide enough information for the elections committee, so that they can pull off fairly accurate polls. This will close the door on unfair elections, perpetual tribal disputes over the seats of the parliament, and the constant attempt to parachute unworthy individuals into positions of power. To summarize the potential milestones covered in this section, we have put forth a basic geographical, demo-graphical, and political outline of the state. In this, we have divided the land and authority along county lines. We have divided residents and firmly put them on the map in county bases. Finally, we have divided the state level politics into electoral ridings and solidified the connection between the representatives and their home bases.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 01:51:09 +0000
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