President Hassan Mohamud’s Villa Somalia seems to be engaged in a feud with someone or community hard to fathom. Multiple cabinet appointments he made recently to the ire of leaders of the Federal Member States look like he is picking a fight that seems to undermine their authorities. This kind of political shenanigans is called “Dagaal Shaanshiyeed in Somali language political jargon (an attack below the belt). Appointing the ex-husband of Ilhan Omar as his senior adviser without indicating any area of expertise is not only ethically wrong, but can also be interpreted as ill-motive on the part of the President.

Ilhan Omar is a powerful Representative from Minnesota’s 5th District Electoral Riding, who is serving in the US Congress Foreign Relations Committee, and she won’t tolerate such a problem children to harm Somali-US cooperation for peace and security in the Horn of Africa.

One would only speculate that the New Appointee will not conspire against the mother of his own kids. At the least that is the common sense, contrary to the motive of his new boss. Here, nobody is suggesting that Abdisalam has no rights and equal opportunity to get hired as a Somali citizen, but his political appointment as Mohamud’s Team Member sounds fishy to independent observers. Initial reports from persons familiar with or briefed on this appointment said that Abdisalam would be working on a government project involving inter-parliamentary relations with the US, a personal capacity too ambitious for him as he had had neither the connections beyond his ex-wife nor the experiences to deliver on such government mission.