ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that the political fragmentation, the high number of small but powerful political elites following total state collapse, and the lack of political reconciliation did not allow the outcomes of the public consultation exercise to translate into actual constitutional text. It renders an already limited national dialogue and public participation process in Somalia to be largely ineffective. The process of public consultations on the Consultative Draft Constitution that took place in Somalia from 2010-2012 is evidence enough that it was indeed not impossible to conduct such a process in a meaningful and effective way despite all the challenges provided for by a difficult security situation and politically charged context. For this purpose, public participation was considered instrumental for the success of the overall process. The constitution-making process in Somalia was a requirement of the Transitional Federal Charter.
