انا
للة وانا الية راجعون
I was in
Addis-Ababa Airport
heading to Hargeisa,
Somaliland, when I was told that Ali
Gualid has
passed away due
to car accident between Berbera and Hargeisa road. Even though, the
death is waiting for all of us and no one can not escape from it,
there is a Somali proverb that says,
“The death is ok with Camel Boy and someone you don’t know”.
I have known Ali Gualid for a long time which we were in California,
USA. Ali Gualid was a Certified Public
Account (CPA),
Banker,
Broadcaster,
Activist
and well-educator Somali Lander.
Ali always puts the interest of his countr y and his people before
anything else with passion, grace and conviction.
Ali Gualid
sudden death is not alone to his family but it touches all Somali
La nders inside our country and in Diaspora. I am extremely lucky to
participa te his funeral which I have not seen the magnitude which
all Somali Landers has given their respect with this great man.
Ali Gualid
was composed with multiple talents: he was a visionary, man of
principal, Certified Public Accountant, great thinker, activist and
a man with a profound sense of history. He instructed to the
proposition that the hist ory of the past must be a path to
the future, that the mistakes of the past should not be repeated
again, but rather learned from it and move the cou ntry
forward not backward and that Somaliland had no option but to
recl aim its independence, that democracy is the right ingredient
for the coun try’s social and economic development, and that
democracy is the country ’s flag-ship to international
recognition
Ali Gualid
was a man of vision; he was the first man who opened the Waberi
Radio in San Jose, California which he named, the voice of Somali
People. Ali was a podcaster and he always brings on his Radio many
issues that were very useful to our people. Ali never afraid of
telling the truth to everyone including the Somaliland elected
officials. He was always very articulate on his Articles and even on
his Radio Podcasting air time.
Ali Gualid
has every thing that an individual will dream of, a decent job with
high pay, living in the United States of America, especially the
best state which is San Jose, California, but he chosen rather to
make useful and help his country and his people for his knowledge
and expertise without looking back a bit his own interest but rather
his countries ’interest.
For the first meeting of SOPRI
in Los-Angeles,
Ali Gualid
has helped the late founder of the Somaliland
Policy and Reconstruction Institute (SOPRI). He was a keynote
speaker of that meeting and presented a great paper that he laid out
effectively the road-map of Somaliland and how to achieve a
qui ck recognition with a clear vision and to promote international
recognition for Somaliland.
It is very difficult to put a scale
on Ali’s contribution
in the quest for devel opment of democracy and Somaliland
recognition, but there is no doubt in my mind that he assisted and
ignited the recognition cause and effort, wh ich was not active
before his effort. Ali was always so busy not to leave the job
solely to the government but that the Diaspora educators should be
actively involved too and, as Ali had demonstrated, they could give
back something to their country of origin not the country that
someone took their residency or citizenship.
Ali was a dreamer,
a visionary,
loyal to his country,
his party
and a doer.
And so we all Asked Allah to forgive him and enter his paradise. Ali
has played a major role for supporting his party agendas and his
country pro gress. The level of his involvement was evident by
the amount of time he spent in the preparatory work. During the last
presidential elections, those of us in the Diaspora remained in
regular contact and he was always very keen when it comes on fair
elections and fair voting registrations. Recently,
Ali
was appointed by his Party to the
Chairman of the up-coming Preside
ntial elections on the Western Regions
of Somaliland and he was the right
person for that job. Now he is gone,
the Party and the country will have a vacuum that needs to be
resumed.
May Allah put his soul rest and peace
and wash with cold water and enter his paradise.
Dr.Mohamed Osman Nur
Hargeisa, Somaliland.
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