MOGADISHU (AX) — Somalia’s House of the People on Saturday completed the first reading of a sweeping police reform bill that would overhaul the legal framework guiding the Somali Police Force, signaling a new phase in efforts to modernize the country’s security institutions and strengthen rule of law.
The session — the 21st meeting of the chamber’s seventh sitting — brought lawmakers into a structured review of the draft’s core provisions, which aim to tighten police governance and clarify chains of command and operational authority. Speaker Sheikh Adan Mohamed Noor (Madobe) presided over the debate, alongside Second Deputy Speaker Abdullahi Omar Abshirow, as members weighed the bill’s legal foundations and its potential to bolster public safety while the state continues to rebuild after years of conflict.
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Under parliamentary procedure, the first reading focuses on the bill’s objectives and scope. No final amendments are adopted at this stage. Closing the session, the speaker directed the Committee on Internal Affairs and Security to refine the draft and prepare it for a second reading, where line-by-line changes and additions are typically considered. The bill will return to the floor once the committee completes its analysis and recommendations.
The push to update police legislation comes amid ongoing security operations across the country, including recent sweeps by Jubbaland’s Darwish forces in Qooqaani, Lower Jubba, as regional authorities seek to constrain Al-Shabab activity. Lawmakers presented the overhaul as part of a broader state-building drive that aims to standardize authority, improve accountability, and align security practices with national priorities and international norms.
In parallel with the police bill, parliamentary leaders distributed several other major drafts that are poised to shape the legislative agenda in the coming weeks. They include measures that reach across climate governance and public health:
- A bill establishing the Somalia Meteorological and Climate Services Agency.
- A bill creating the National Environmental Management Authority.
- A bill banning female genital mutilation (FGM).
- A draft of the Tobacco Control Convention.
Collectively, the measures reflect an effort to build state capacity beyond the security sector. The proposed climate agencies would create the country’s first dedicated frameworks for weather, early warning and environmental management, areas seen as increasingly urgent amid climate shocks and floods that routinely disrupt communities. The FGM ban and the tobacco control draft underscore a widening public health agenda that seeks to reduce preventable harm and align Somalia’s laws with global health standards.
Lawmakers did not specify a timeline for the second reading of the police bill. The Internal Affairs and Security Committee now faces the task of integrating feedback from Saturday’s debate and ensuring the draft’s provisions can be implemented across federal and regional structures. Once returned to the chamber, the bill will undergo a fuller debate and possible amendment before any final vote.
Saturday’s session sets the stage for a consequential end-of-year docket, with security reform at its core and a slate of climate and health legislation moving in tandem — a sign of a parliament seeking to advance multiple pillars of state-building at once.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
