Closed petition Stop aid to Somalia until it eradicates the discriminatory 4.5 political formula

Closed on 17 February 2021

As a principal provider of development aid, the UK Government should urge Somalia to eradicate the 4.5 political representation formula, because it is premised on racial discrimination against minority tribes and clans, and has resulted in continuous human rights abuses. The suffering needs to stop.

Using this 4.5 formula limits the number of members in the federal and regional states parliaments. Somalia’s Federal Parliament is divided into the Senate and the House of the People encompassing 329 members. In the former only one of 54 and in the latter only 31 of 275 are from the minority groups. Under this mechanism the major tribes get equal number of members (61x4=244) whereas the minority are allotted half (61/2=31). None of the presidents since 2000 sought to change this injustice.