Narrating about the number of participants, Ali Mahdi said the projected number was 1325, but the NGRC encountered difficulties on tribal chieftains whom some of them has more than 1 traditional leader due to the consequences of the civil war which wasn’t an easy task to resolve. This, he said, led us to jump the number of participants into 2605.

Continuing his remarks, Ali Mahdi said the even the original agenda items which were 11, delegates made another additional four items, namely: refugees and IDPs wellbeing, sea-piracy, basic rights for the nationals and the minorities and the status of the capital city of Mogadishu. Ali Mahdi said that there were some prophets of dooms who speculate the congress imminent failure accusing them of being detrimental to the Somali unity. “Those of kind of people have no place in new Somalia”, he said.