The tragic death of a Turkish motorcycle driver in Istanbul as a result of a careless driving by Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the son of the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, raises questions about the President’s judgment for several reasons, Mohamed Hassan Sheikh was driving the Somali Embassy’s car when he caused what is now viewed as “death by careless driving”…
President Mohamud told the media that his son “owns a business in Turkey”. Why did the President’s son with business interests borrow the embassy’s car when he could have gone to a car rental? Earlier this year, President Mohamud claimed that his family members “have citizenship rights to work in government”. Shortly after that politically outrageous statement President Mohamud appointed his daughter as Senior Foreign Adviser.
After his re-election in 2022 President Mohamud said that he did not have any wealth. How has his son acquired the capital to launch a business in Türkiye? A business man with a network in Istanbul should not have stooped so low as to brazenly borrow the Somali embassy’s car. A President’s son or daughter has no a right to work in a government agency: the President’s daughter cannot disinterestedly advise her father on geopolitical issues. The only competitive advantage she has to work as a Senior Foreign Adviser is that her father is the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia. She has not been vetted for the job, and his son in 3-Month becoming Militer Officer in the Somalia Army.
The Somali Ambassador to Turkey has a lot of explaining to do. The embassy, like other Somali embassies, is micromanaged by Villa Somalia. The family members of the President can count on the docility of our diplomatic corps to drive embassy vehicles, among other diplomatic transgressions covered up by the Somali Federal Government.
President Mohamud said that he had urged his son to go to the court. Who authorised the President’s son to borrow the embassy’s car? If President Mohamud sticks to the defence of his children’s rights to work for the government, no lessons will have been learned from the reputational damage caused to the Somali embassy in Türkiye and sorrow experienced by the family of the motorcycle driver.
