A quick at look at Somalia’s new president

Somalia will now have Farmajo as its president for the next four years.

By Nangayi Guyson, nangayi.guyson@alleastafrica.com

Kampala, Uganda –Somali lawmakers on Wednesday voted Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to become the country’s next president, ending the four year rule by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after a tightly contested election at the international Airport in the Somali Capital.

Somalia will now have Farmajo as its president for the next four years.

As he takes over the office of the president, the new leader will have a lot to work around, including tightening the security of the country, securing the boarder to halt the attacks from the al-shababa and Islamic state militants.

Among key priorities he will have to focus also include finding a quick possible humanitarian solution to end hunger that has struck the country of 12 million. But as we expect all that from him one would like to know who this man is?

Background

Mohamed Abdullahi popularly known as Farmajo was born in 1962 in Mogadishu to activist parents from the southern Gedo region and he is now 55 years old.

Mohamed’s parents were activists affiliated with the Somali Youth League (SYL), Somalia’s first political party. During the 1970s, his father worked as a civil servant in the national Department of Transportation. Very little is known about his wife and children but there is only one daughter, Intisar Mohamed, who lives on Grand Island US that the media knows today.

Most of his time, he has lived off and on for years in the United States because of having dual citizenship, while in the United States of America having studied history and political science.

His early education started in Somalia and but his studies at higher levels were done outside the country. It’s reported that between 1989 and 1993, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in History from the State University of New York at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.  In 2009 he also completed aMaster’s degree in Political Sciencefrom the same University.

His work and Politics.

He started his work at theMinistry of foreignaffairs of Somaliaunder the government of Siad Barre before it was overthrown in 1991. He also worked as First Secretary at the Somali embassy in Washington between 1985 and 1988 plus other various human rights organizations for peace building.

While in America, from 1994 to 1997, Mohamed was chosen as an at-large Commissioner for the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, and worked there as the finance chairman. He also served as case manager for a lead abatement program in the city from 1995 to 1999.

Between 2000 and 2002, Mohamed was a minority business coordinator for the Erie County Division of Equal Employment Opportunity.From 2002 until his appointment as Prime Minister in late 2010, he worked as Commissioner for Equal Employment at the New York State Department of Transportation in Buffalo.

Mohamed also taught leadership skills and conflict resolution at Erie Community College, which is part of the SUNY system.

From November 2010 until June 2011, he was appointedPrime Minister Mohamed, his office is praised for changing the livelihood of the Somalia government soldiers by enabling them receive their  first monthly payment of stipends in full, and also initiating  the implementation of a full biometric register for the security forces within a window of four months. In the period of time still, helped Somalia draft the new constitution.

Together with the previous government, Prime Minister Mohamed helped AMISOM  to secure control of 60% of Mogadishu.

His love for the country’ 

While in the United States, he spoke out against Somalia’s government and was granted asylum for fear of safety. He is said to have lived in Buffalo because it has a large Somali refugee community, according to The Buffalo News. 

While working as the Prime Minister back home in Somalia, there were  political infighting between President Sharif Ahmed and the Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan over whether to hold presidential elections in August 2011 or not, He accepted to negotiate a deal in Kampala on June 9, 2011 to postpone the vote for a new President and Parliament Speaker for one year in exchange for the resignation of the Premier within a period of thirty days which was overseen by the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the U.N. Special Envoy to Somalia Augustine Mahiga.

Prime Minister Mohamed’s proposed resignation caused protests in various cities. Thousands of civilians, many government soldiers, and some legislators marched through the streets of Mogadishu, calling for the dismissal of the President, the Parliament Speaker and the Parliament. The crowd also demanded that the Premier be reinstated and described Mohamed as the “only honest leader in recent years”

2012 presidential ambitions and Tayo Political Party.

After finding love in the life of politics, Mohamed and members of his former Cabinet in 2012 formed Tayopolitical party, named after the generally favorable reputation that his administration earned during its brief tenure.

According to Mohamed, the party’s primary agenda is to revolve around delivering services to Somalia’s general population and encouraging the repatriation of Somali diasporans so as to assist in the post-conflict reconstruction process.

In early August 2012, Mohamed presented himself as a suitable presidential candidate in Somalia’s 2012 elections but he was eliminated during the first round of voting.

Since then, Mohamed has reportedly been campaigning in various global destinations to amass support for his new party, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden.

His campaign based on nationalism, freedom from famine and the defeat of Al-Shabaab saw him won Feb 8, 2017 elections.

With just some of this Hardworking capabilities, the hope of the Somali people will be restored in a country which has been disintegrating since 1991, when warlords ousted Dictator Siad Barre, then plunged the nation into civil war giving militants advantage of terrorizing the Country.