It’s time to Okoa Wajir Township, hopeful Omar Abdullahi says

Omar Abdullahi Musa, Township ward hopeful.

WAJIR—Young and full of zeal, Omar Abdullahi Musa, a Township ward hopeful in the August elections started the interview with vigour.

Born and schooled in the area, Omar believes the community in Township has been neglected by successive representatives in the local assembly.

“Since the ward was formed, the representatives have employed one means of keeping the community from engaging them on accountability: handouts,” he noted, throwing his hand in the air, perhaps because of the anger that came with the realisation that the community he is looking forward to represent may not subscribe to his agenda.

“I hope they do,” he says, as if he heard my imagination.

Married with a child, Omar is an alumni of Township Primary School and he argues that he understands what the resident of Township want most.

“They want bursary for their children and identity cards,” Omar added.

Rahmo Aden, a Township resident said she was forced to go to her mother’s birthplace in Wajir South because she was not considered a resident in her homeplace.

“I really felt bad when I was thrown out of the queue because of my clan identity,” she recounted.

“I felt out of place in my own neighbourhood,” she added.

Farah Hassan explaining a point during the interview in Wajir. He is leading a group of youths in the cosmopolitan Township ward to participate in the next elections. Photo/ COURTESY

“We want to shade off the perception that we settle for hand-outs and drift away from issue-based politics,” Farah Hassan Bule, the Interim Secretary-General of the Township Youth Forum, told Kulan Post.

“Today majority of young men and women in Township ward lack basic opportunities like post-secondary education at a period when the prevailing circumstances allows them to enjoy those privileges.”

The incumbent MCA, Abdi Osman Hassan defended his track record in his first terms as the area representative saying he was able to champion the rights of the locals.

Omar Abdullahi says even Abdi Osman was an imposed candidate and is not from the area. “The MCA is not from Township. We’ve never seen him before the elections,” he said.

He called on the area residents to to vote in large numbers, saying “It’s time to Okoa (save) Township.”