Mogadishu 12 July 2014- A delegation from Somalia Federal Government, Civil Society and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), alongside other African and US participants completed two-week course in Ghana on election management.
The course, which covered the entire electoral cycle, was held at Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in the Ghana capital, Accra. It covered both theory, lesson-sharing and exchange of experiences from Ghana, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Gambia, South Africa, Somalia, Uganda and US.
In addition, the course covered the expected international norms and standards in an election cycle particularly the legal framework, nature of election management body, electoral activities, election funding and election observation in stable and post-conflict environments, in promoting democracy especially in Africa.
As part of field work, the participants interacted with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), a local Non-Governmental Organization that has contributed in successful election observation in Ghana and Africa at large. Ghana, as a role model in Africa held a successful election in 2012, a peaceful dispute resolution in courts of laws and is at advanced stage of preparing Biometric Voters Registration.
Deputy Minister of Information in the Federal Government of Somalia, Hon Abdullahi Olad Roble, said that the course met the delegation’s expectations especially at a time when Somalia is working on the legal framework in preparation for free and fair 2016 election.
On behalf of the government, Hon Abdullahi expressed gratitude to AMISOM for organizing the course on building capacity in Somalia and appealed for more capacity building for Somalis in this area as Somalia looks ahead of 2016 electoral process.
