The Upcoming Parliamentary Visit To The UK

EDITORIAL

The speaker of Somaliland lower house of parliament, Abdirahman Erro, and the first deputy of the chairman of the house of elders (Guurti), Ahmed Sheikh Nuh, will begin next week a visit to Britain at the invitation of the “Welsh National Assembly”.

It will be the first visit to the UK by Somaliland legislators ever since this country obtained independence from Britain some 45 years ago. What gives this tour a more symbolic significance is that it will begin in Cardiff , the capital of Wales , where the first Somalilanders landed over a century ago to work as seamen and at shipyards and mines.

But most importantly is the fact that the visit is going to take place only 5 months since Somaliland conducted its first democratic parliamentary elections that were monitored and certified as fair and free by international observers.

The Somaliland parliamentary delegation will try to brief legislators in the Welsh Assembly as well as the House of Commons on Somaliland’s self-made achievements in nation-building and democratization, a successful experience unheard of in both Africa and the Muslim world.

Despite the great strides made by Somaliland in democratization, however the process needs to be strengthened further. Though the newly elected House of Representatives is determined to carryout its legislative role in a more pro-active manner, however it’s constrained by deficiencies in its institutional capacity.

The Somaliland Parliament operates from congested premises and lacks the necessary technical and information resources and staff skills required to enable it effectively exercise its oversight role and review or initiate new laws.

The parliament, which like everything else in new Somaliland , was started from scratch needs to improve the knowledge of its members and staff in a number of specialized topics such as research techniques, budget and policy analysis, drafting of bills and the art of non-partisan collaboration or negotiation in sponsoring bills. As other branches of government, the Somaliland Parliament has been deprived of legitimate external institutional support.

By contrast, the European Union has, at Italy’s instigation, been meeting the operational, administrative and accommodation expenses of Somalia’s parliament, which one year and a half after it was formed in Kenya, has yet to meet on its soil. Whilst Somaliland cherishes its tradition of self-reliance and would never degrade itself to the level of asking other nations to pay for the salaries of its legislators, however what Somaliland needs is an assistance that complements what it has already achieved on its own.

Following Somaliland’s successful local council, presidential and parliamentary elections, the time has come for UK legislators and the British government to change their policy from paying only lip service to Somaliland ’s stability and democratic achievements to a more concrete commitment of support for the institutions that sustain good governance and development in this country such as the newly elected parliament.

Source: Somaliland Times

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