| Somaliland: Who is Eng Yusuf Warsame Saeed? Mayor of Hargeisa |
| Wednesday, 26 December 2012 14:54 |
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By: Yusuf M Hasan HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – Incoming city mayor astounds many by reconciling with councilors who abstained from his election. Following its swearing-in by the city's district court the first function held on the 23rd of December by the Hargeisa municipality was to elect a mayor. The local council with a total membership of 25 councilors saw Engineer Yusuf Warsame Saeed elected with a unanimous vote of 15 as the rest (10) abstained for reasons not divulged to date. The new mayor proved his leadership quality by making his first official duty, the reconciliation with the abstaining councilors whom he held meetings thus assuage their grievances. While much is anticipated from the Eng mayor who is from the ruling Kulmiye party especially after oft repeated campaign pledges to bring in a new kind of local administration, all are curious as to who this public servant is really is. To unearth the most powerful person in local government management in the country we gathered that the ruling party of Kulmiye solicited the candidature as councilor of Eng Yusuf with the single objective of making him mayor due to his knowledge and experience which matches the qualities desired to fulfill the party's city development agenda. Bio Data Engineer Yusuf Aw Warsame Saeed was born seven decades ago in Hargeisa where he was schooled from primary and secondary his school level. He received his higher education in Russia, before proceeding England where he studied and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in urban development engineering at a London University. "The engineer who thought it wise to pursue further studies before returning home proceeded to a Russian university where he earned a Masters Degree in city planning" informed Ms Asha Bulale a long term neighbour of the new mayor With a burning quest for contributing to developing his country, the then Republic of Somalia, Eng Yusuf Warsame returned home and his first project was the famous Guriga Umadda (Peoples House) building in Mogadishu near Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan's statue followed by Villa Somalia the presidential palace which has been the home of Somalia presidents for long. The sprawling Villa Somalia which has, though scarred after a barrage of heavy military ordnance for 20 years and devoid of painting , has remained stout as original thus a testimony of the engineering prowess of the new Hargeisa mayor. Following the protracted civil war between the Siyad Barre led Somali national army and rebels of the Somaliland National Movement-SNM the 1980's and early 90's Eng Yusuf Warsame made tangible contributions both morally and financially towards the SNM rebellion which he supported against the tyranny of the dictator Barre. After the successful rout of the Barre regime and subsequent reclamation of self-rule by his motherland of Somaliland a former British protectorate, the incoming Hargeisa mayor moved based to Europe, settling in Oslo the Norwegian where he groomed his city planning and engineering career further through active participation in numerous projects in a span of ten years. Living with daily Nostalgia for home the now fully fledged city planner decided to return to his native home Somaliland with a detour in Djibouti where he designed and effected the tiny country's first roundabout for the network of roads that connects the entire city of Djibouti. On arrival in Hargeisa he established the Warsame Saeed Construction Company that has become reckoned with for erection of various businesses and residential structures and more specifically the new Parliament building in Hargeisa. "We anticipate a lot of improvements in city development not only due to the skills of the new mayor Eng: Yusuf but to the fact that he is affluent enough thus not a seeker of any financial gains from this position but from a desire to save the capital from Apart from his zero tolerance on graft Eng Yusuf Warsame hopes to see to it that the city is freed from garbage thus sanitary living conditions for residents develop a proper road network worthy of a capital city and establish a proper town planning and protect the national assets that he has experience in doing. Eng: Yusuf has the reputation of being honest, transparent and hard working. He is financially sound and may even spend his own to help Hargeisa. |
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