Somali tribe in Kenya might not be that be big but it has produced most of the powerful leaders in the country.These leaders have been able to not only influence the Somali community but also other communities in their various field of expertise -mostly politics. Here is a look at the most powerful Somalis in Kenya:
1. Aden Duale
He was elected in this past election under the jubilee party as the MP for Garrisa town. He is of Somali ethnicity. Aden served as a representative of the Dujis constituency in the National Assembly of Iin the 2007 parliamentary elections. He comes from the Abdulwak of the Talaamoge sub-clan, which is part of the large Ogaden clan.
2. Abdikadir Mohamed
Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed is a Kenyan politician. Mohamed was elected to represent the Mandera Central constituency in the 2007 general election in the defeating the incumbent Biloow Kerrow. He was the chairman of the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee in parliament. He holds masters in law from Harvard Law School and was the chairman of the parliamentary committee on constitutional affairs that saw the draft of new constitution. Moroever, Abdikadir was awarded the German African Prize in 2011. He is currently Senior Advisor to the president of the republic of Kenya.
3. Amina Mohamed
Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril who hails from Bungoma county is a Kenyan somali lawyer, diplomat and politician. She previously served as chairwoman of the International organization of immigration and the world trade organization Council, as well as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nation environmental Programme. She is currently the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Kenya.
Read: Amina Mohammed is one of the most powerful women in Government
4. Ahmednasir Abdullahi
He is one of the well know lawyers in the country,and expensive too. He is a Partner at Ahmednasir, Abdikadir and Co Advocates. He has majored in, Civil Litigation, Commercial Law, Corporate Law, Banking and Refugee Law. He attended University of Nairobi, LL.B in 1990; Kenya School of Law, Diploma Law in 1991; Cornell University, LL.M in 1992. He has risen up the ranks based on his case win ratio including the recent presidential election petition win.
5. Farah Maalim
He is the former Deputy speaker of the National Assembly and has almost twenty-five years of experience on the Kenyan political scene. Maalim belongs to the Auliyahan sub-clan of the Ogaden Daron Somali clan.He was educated at Maseno School. He is a member of the Wiper party. He was elected to represent the Lagdera constituency in the National Assembly in the 10th parliament.He had previously served in the 7th Kenyan Parliament.
6. Hassan Omar
Hassan Omar is the former commissioner of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). Hassan got actively engaged in human rights advocacy and training under the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM), Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) and KENASU. He received training on governance and democracy from the Les Aspin Centre for Government, Washington DC, USA.He is the former senator of Mombasa county. He became one of the political bigwigs in Mombasa which made him to run for the gubernatorial sit where he was defeated by the incumbent Ali Hassan Joho.
7. Adan Keynan
Adan Keynan Wehliye is the longest serving National Assembly MP in Northern Kenya. He served Wajir West between 1997 – 2002, then 2007 to 2013. He then moved to Eldas constituency which was curved from Wajir West. Keynan served as Eldas MP in the 11th parliament and he was then re-elected to serve the same constituency in 12th parliament. Keynan is known as “King Maker’ of Wajir politics. In 2013 he brought little known Ahmed Abdullahi to battle senior politician Mohamed Abdi Mohamud as Wajir Governor. He succeeded in his mission. In this year general election Kenyan led all elected leaders to Jubilee party and offered to support Amb Mohamed for gubernatorial position. Again for the second time Keynan managed to achieve his pride and proved the title, “Wajir county King Maker”. In addition, he is the only MP who was re-elected from the county. He is the Advisor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA)
8. Mohammed Hersi
Mohammed is the Group ceo of the Sun Africa Hotels. Mr Hersi was based at the Voyager Resort in Mombasa. He has steered the group through the slump in the hotel industry that almost crippled the sector. In 2016, the hotelier managed to retain staff at the voyager hotel, a turnaround from 2015 where the management and staff of the group were forced to take 20 per cent to 30 per cent pay cuts to avoid layoffs. He joined Sarova Whitesands in the mid-1990s and steered the business through difficult moments, including the 2002 Kikambala bombing and the 1998 US embassy blast in Nairobi. He also worked as the head of the Kenyatta’s family hotel business.
9. Yusuf Hassan Abdi
He is a Kenyan Somali politician, diplomat, social activist and former journalist. After working many years with the United Nations, he joined the Kenya parliament as a legislator in 2011.He is the current Mp of Kamukunji constituency.
10. Mohamed Yusuf Haji
Haji is a kenyan politician. He was the Minister of Defence of Kenya from 2008 to 2013, and briefly served as its acting Minister of Internal Security and Provincial Affairs in 2012. He has served in the Senate of kenya since 2013. He is the current senator of Garissa county.
