Kenyan's saying a Somali should be president of Kenya: ''They're those neighbours who want to see you succeed"

[Idilinaa]

He talks from experience living directly with them as neighbors

He says a couple of things:

- ''If they have something they always want to make sure you also have something'' - He basically says Somalis will come knocking to check to see if you are ok

- ''If you have a Somali boss or your friend has a Somali boss, you will never hear them complaining about them, that they have not been paid their salaries , that their boss has been mistreating them. Those are stories you'll never hear , huh"

This is to support what i've said in another thread:

Nobody fears or hates J-weyne and other Somali clans hardly bring them up or talk badly about them. They are just treated as people that share the land with them and are their neighbors.

It's more the opposite, its J-weyne and other smaller communities who feel threatened by the wider Somali collective and thats why we have people like you and others on this thread who seek to divorce them from their lands and reduce their role. In the process you have to imagine realities that are not real.

It's similar to the rabid intense grudge , fear and slander spewed by Kenyans online, who also want to believe we are strangers to our land and they are entitled to it. Whereas Somalis instead behave in the line of mutual cooperation and sharing, they have no trouble tolerating others as shared neighbors.

I have said it before there is no actual caste system, nepotism, monopoly, or ethnic hierarchy among Somalis. Somalis by nature are cosmopolitan, community-oriented, integrative, and generous with their wealth. They are people who value collaboration and are fully capable of living side by side with others as neighbors.


But because some individuals carry deep-rooted identity-based grievances, they end up projecting their own insecurities, spinning conspiracies, and directing hostility toward the very Somalis who welcome them and treat them with kindness and generosity. Then they turn around and try to paint Somalis as xenophobic or exclusionary when, in truth, it’s one of the most one-sided dynamics you’ll ever see.

 

[Idilinaa]

Other videos: This guy is saying we are angels, the Somali language should become national. No idea as to the rest of what he says


We always hear about Eastleigh but here is a village in Central Kenya built by prominent Somalis they own a large farmland and employ local Kenyans:



A village in Western Kenya where Somalis own and run gold and silver mine:



This is to show how Somalis are creating employment opportunities and bringing wealth and business activity into various parts of Kenya.

 

[Espaa_]

Other videos: This guy is saying we are angels, the Somali language should become national. No idea as to the rest of what he says


We always hear about Eastleigh but here is a village in Central Kenya built by prominent Somalis they own a large farmland and employ local Kenyans:



A village in Western Kenya where Somalis own and run gold and silver mine:



This is to show how Somalis are creating employment opportunities and bringing wealth and business activity into various parts of Kenya.

Somalis really are natural businessmen and entrepreneurs masha Allah. I think its in our genes. May they continue all their good work insha Allah

 

[Idilinaa]

Btw, just to preface this the kinds of village-level and grassroots business activity seen above are also happening in NFD (Northern Frontier District) and Somalia. I’ll make a separate post on that a bit later.

I also want to take this opportunity to debunk some of the common slanderous claims you often see from Kenyans online especially on platforms like Twitter and under comment sections where Somalis are frequently attacked with misinformation.

Claim #1: "Somalis get NGO money to start businesses"

This is completely false:

''One Somali observer said Somali business owners did not receive financial assistance from the humanitarian system but used money earned working in the Somali Hawala system and invested in starting small businesses"

In South Africa, for instance, Somalis would often start as workers in existing shops, save earnings, and eventually open their own. They also use a cooperative model of pooling resources, cross-investing, and sharing startup costs. this a system that ties directly into capital flows in Kenya.

Claim #2: "Somalis use pirate or criminal money to build businesses"

This is also a slanderous lie.

First, piracy was effectively over by 2012. Even in 2011, the total ransom money was only estimated at $100–125 million.

Now compare that to the fact that Somali investment in property in 2004 alone was estimated at $1.5 billion. The math simply doesn’t add up.


And even then, most pirate money was blown on luxury cars and khat , it barely touched the business sector.

Despite this, Kenyans online still recycle this myth, even though there’s no evidence linking Somali capital to illicit or criminal activity. Most Somali investment stems from legitimate family or community-run businesses that reinvest across sectors and borders.

The key driver behind this? The financial system , particularly Hawala networks and cooperative financing.

Claim #3: "Somalis are oligarchs who control politics"

Another baseless claim.

There’s no such thing as a "Somali oligarch" in Kenya. Somali politicians don’t own big businesses most businesses are family or community-run. When someone enters politics, they usually step back from business entirely to avoid conflicts of interest.


Positions are earned based on merit and competency as even Ruto himself explained:

Take Noordin Haji, for example:

Noordin Haji - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

His parents were both lawyers and public servants. He followed in their footsteps, pursued higher education, rose through the legal ranks, and went on to become Director of Public Prosecutions, and now Director General of the National Intelligence Service.

If you go through the background of nearly every Somali Kenyan in public office today, you’ll find well-qualified individuals who worked their way up.

It’s a reflection of the strong Somali Kenyan emphasis on education and professionalism.

Claim #4: "Why don’t Somalis succeed or invest in their home country of Somalia?"

This too is false.

In fact, most Somali investment flows directly back into Somalia, and funds move back and forth constantly.

Somalis have revived entire sectors, fueled urban development, and driven economic growth often doing way more than any international donors.

 

[Zak12]

Claim Nr.2 : ''Somalis get Pirate and Criminal money to start businesses"

Its also nonsense because the Somali counties of Kenya are amongst the most peaceful and least crime ridden in the country.

https://x.com/Stats_Kenya/status/1742177070166294602

https://statskenya.co.ke/at-stats-kenya/about/male-and-female-homicide-rates-in-kenya-by-county/107/

Wajir, Mandera, Lamu and Samburu among counties with lowest reported crime cases

Wajir registered 358 reported crimes, followed by Mandera with 373 cases, Lamu with 401, Samburu with 414 and Tana River with 436. Garissa recorded 646 cases, f...

eastleighvoice.co.ke

Wajir, Mandera, Lamu, Samburu and Tana River are the safest counties to live in Kenya.
According to the 2025 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), these five counties recorded the lowest number of crimes reported to police in 2024, reflecting their relative safety compared to other parts of the country.

 

[Idilinaa]

Its also nonsense because the Somali counties of Kenya are amongst the most peaceful and least crime ridden in the country.

https://x.com/Stats_Kenya/status/1742177070166294602

https://statskenya.co.ke/at-stats-kenya/about/male-and-female-homicide-rates-in-kenya-by-county/107/

Wajir, Mandera, Lamu and Samburu among counties with lowest reported crime cases

Wajir registered 358 reported crimes, followed by Mandera with 373 cases, Lamu with 401, Samburu with 414 and Tana River with 436. Garissa recorded 646 cases, f...

eastleighvoice.co.ke

Wajir, Mandera, Lamu, Samburu and Tana River are the safest counties to live in Kenya.
According to the 2025 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), these five counties recorded the lowest number of crimes reported to police in 2024, reflecting their relative safety compared to other parts of the country.


View attachment 364887

View attachment 364888

Tana River is essentially another name for Garissa it's the river that passes through it. You see the same trend in Somalia as well, where crime and homicide rates are extremely low a point I’ve discussed in another thread.

All these accusations thrown at the Somali community are pure projection. We are one of the most productive, hard-working, collaborative, civil, fair, honest and non-violent communities in Kenya.

One of the constant claims you hear is: “Why aren’t Mandera, Garissa, and Wajir (NFD) the richest and most developed regions?”


Well, the reason is simple: The Kenyan government prior to the Ruto administration systematically marginalized the region. Development was deliberately stifled, and investment was blocked, forcing Somalis to migrate to Nairobi or rely on Somalia for opportunities and resources.


It’s a situation very similar to the Ogaden region of Ethiopia before 2018 , a region that wasn’t self-governed, where Somalis had almost no economic freedom or local political control.

You can read this paper (too long to quote fully) which outlines how the region was treated like a Non-Self-Governing Territory, with clear economic marginalization:

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1457018/FULLTEXT01.pdf

On top of that, Somalis faced decades of discrimination and denial of full citizenship again, until recently:

That’s beginning to finally change under Ruto:

https://www.president.go.ke/president-ruto-commits-to-transformation-of-north-eastern-region/

Kenya abolishes punitive citizenry policies targeting Somalis

Kenya abolishes punitive citizenry policies targeting Somalis

www.garoweonline.com

Ruto’s Somali ID reform sparks rift over ethnic politics in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (HOL) — President William Ruto's decision to eliminate a six-decade-old verification process for obtaining national identification cards in Kenya's northeastern region has ignited political and security debates across the country.

hiiraan.com

We’ve already seen what happens when Somalis are allowed to govern themselves and have economic agency. Look at Ethiopia's Somali region post-2018: with self-government came development and growth. Jigjiga is now hailed as a beacon of progress. The whole region is transforming.:
Example of Somali Self-Government Boosting Growth


That brings me to another false claim: “Somalis don’t pay taxes in Kenya.”

This is demonstrably false.

Not only do Somalis in NFD pay taxes, they do so despite decades of receiving minimal development and public services in return. As shown in this video, residents have repeatedly demanded more equitable resource allocation in exchange for their continued tax compliance:

''While the residents while agreeing to continue to paying taxes , also demanded an increase share of resources allocated to develop marginalized areas"


And let's not forget Eastleigh, which contributes more than one-third of Nairobi’s tax revenue nearly half in some estimates:

This isn’t even accounting for other Somali dominated areas across Nairobi and Kenya, which I’ll break down with data separately. But one thing is clear:

If Somalis were economically removed from Kenya, the national economy would immediately collapse. The government’s domestic revenue base would shrink drastically. A large numbers of Kenyans will become unemployed or lose their livelihoods.