HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF SOMALIA

This post discusses the house of Representatives of Somalia, it explains the history of the House and list the subcommittees and speakers of the house.

HISTORY OF THE HOUSE

The Federal Parliament of Somalia is bicameral, consisting of an Upper House and a Lower House (House of the People). It includes many professionals and university graduates. At least 30% of seats are legally reserved for women, a quota secured by Somali parliamentary consultant Hodan Ahmed and women political leaders. Ahmed had also helped form the Somali Women Parliamentary Association in 2009 in the preceding Transitional Federal Parliament.

Read: POLITICAL HISTORY OF SOMALIA

The first parliament in independent Somalia was unicameral National Assembly (1960–1969). It was followed by unicameral House of the People (1969–2012) which did not function during Somali Civil War. Unicameral Federal Parliament was established in 2012, and it was reformulated as bicameral in 2016, when Senate of Somalia was established

An official list of Members of the Federal Parliament was first published on 17 August 2012 by the Office of the Somali Parliament.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The House of the People, or lower house, is eventually expected to comprise 275 MPs.

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Somaliland, with the House of Elders being the upper house.

The interim House of Representatives was formed in 1991, and driven by Somali National Movement. Somaliland National Charter of 1993 established bicameral legislature. The current House of Representatives was formed following parliamentary elections held on 29 September 2005, which resulted in a strong combined majority for the opposition Kulmiye and UCID parties. It has a total of 82 members. The latter include the Speaker of the House, Bashe Mohamed Farah. MPs are elected in six multi-member constituencies, using the party-list proportional representation system for a five-year term.

The constitution gives the House broad legislative powers over financial matters. Its most potent check on executive power is its right to approve, reject, or amend the government’s annual budget and the right to inspect annual expenditure reports that the executive is obligated to prepare. The formation of the parliament in 2005 was the most important step in establishing a constitutionally-based, democratic governmental system in Somaliland.

SUBCOMMITTEES

Standing and disciplinary sub-committee

Economic, finance and commercial sub-committee

Social affairs and religion sub-committee

Environment, livestock, agriculture and natural resources sub-committee

Internal affairs, security and defense sub-committee

Foreign policy, International relation and national planning sub-committee

Constitutional, judiciary, justice and Human rights sub-committee

Care and protection of public properties sub-committee,

SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE