Osman Jinkis: An Obituary

A member of the Somali community of San Diego since the early 1990s, Osman Jinkismale Mohamed died of heart failure Sunday, Nov. 20, in San Diego. He was 59.

Jinkis, as his friends knew him, was popular among his fellow countrymen for his unbridled humor, affability, and technical savviness. He worked as a cab driver, but also moonlighted as a technician, wedding videographer, and an amateur mechanic.

Jinkis was born in Marka, a coastal town in southern Somalia, in 1957. He was given his father’s name “Jinkismale,” which means, “no one [among humans] is like him.” As a youngster, he enrolled in primary education, but his parents later pulled him out of school. Instead, he learned a few skills as he worked in various fields as a handy man.

In the 1970s, Jinkis unrelentingly pursued his dream of being an electrician. His determination paid off in 1978 when the American Embassy in Mogadishu hired him. He spoke no English, but he was proficient in his work and had strong people skills, which earned him the respect of his employer and colleagues.

In 1991, Jinkis, like thousands of Somalis, fled to Kenya because of the civil war. For a while, he spent time in the Utanga Refugee Camp near Mombasa. After a short period, he relocated to Nairobi where he applied to be settled in the United States. His previous work for the American Embassy came in handy and he was settled in San Diego in June 1993.

Wisecracking and charismatic, people listened to Jinkis when he spoke. He had an interesting accent—a blend of Markan and Benadiri dialects. I remember my nephew, Khalid Barre, then a teen, listening to Jinkis and watching him with rapt attention. I asked Khalid why he was looking at Jinkis in that way. Khalid replied, “Abti (uncle), he speaks Somali in a way that I have never heard.” Jinkis’ speech was unique and fun.

Somalis sought out Jinkis’ answers to various questions to elicit his humorous responses. One time, someone asked Jinkis how many breasts a she-camel has. Jinkis was not amused and said: “Why are you guys asking me about camels? I grew up in a coastal city. Ask me about fish.”

In another incident, Jinkis was driving along with three of his Somali co-workers in Poway, a suburb of San Diego, when a police officer stopped him for speeding. The officer asked Jinkis why he was speeding. Jinkis swiftly replied: “These guys were telling me my car is slow, and I wanted badly to show them how fast I can drive.” The officer laughed and said “That is the most honest answer I have ever heard from a motorist.”

Jinkis lived behind a Somali café popularly known as “Calaacal” (Whining) and would hang around the eatery. Tellingly, he once was heading to pray at a nearby mosque with another guy. The café was close to two Somali mosques; one a block away and predominantly Somali-run, the other was also overwhelmingly attended by Somalis, but Pakistanis ran it and it was two blocks away. When Jinkis was asked to pray at the closer mosque, he declined and said, “Ma rabo inaan tukado salaad afaara qabiil ah” (I do not want to offer a clannish prayer)”. He prayed instead in the mosque run by the Pakistanis. Still today, his friends remember his odd statement in amusement. It was a true reflection of the current tribal state of Somalis. 

With his dark complexion and straight hair, Jinkis looked more like an Indian. Occasionally, he was bothered by customers who automatically assumed he was Indian. “I am a Somali,” he would curtly reply. However, his unique features were a blessing as he was able to cultivate more diverse clientele. He had an incredible work ethic as a cabbie because he sometimes worked seven days a week—from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. There was just one hitch: His extremely hectic schedule proved to be detrimental to his health and well-being as he developed an acute form of hypertension.

In 2012, Jinkis suffered a stroke and went into deep coma that lasted for a year. Doctors told his friends that he would last only a week or two. They were wrong. He survived a few more years, and miraculously came out of coma, and slowly but surely started returning to his old self. The long coma, however, took a heavy toll and damaged his kidneys. He was on dialysis for years as he waited for a kidney transplant.

I met Jinkis in the early 1990s at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I helped him with his paperwork and interpreted for him. Since then, we forged a true and lasting friendship. He was kind, caring, dependable, genial, and a loyal friend, indeed, there were none like him. Many of the Somalis in San Diego will also miss him because he bent over backward to help his community. He was a positive soul.  May God have mercy on him. 

All in the Family (Part 2): Politics in the South West

President Sharif Hassan of the South West (SW) is trying to ensure that his relatives and friends are elected to the Lower House of the Federal Parliament. He is also creating his own set of clan chieftains.

To begin, Sharif Hassan’s own son, Abdulkhadir, has been officially selected for parliament.  Abdulkhadir replaced his father two years ago in the Federal Parliament when Sharif Hassan became the head of the Interim South West Administration. Now, Abdulkhadir has returned.

In Part One, we discussed Mohamed Mursal, the Wunderkind and nephew of Sharif Hassan. Mursal is the state minister for the presidency office and the head of the election committee. These strange dual and conflicting responsibilities can only possibly take place in the SW. Mursal’s wife, Samro Omar Ibrahim, is running for a seat in parliament with her selection almost guaranteed.

Sharif Hassan’s half-brother, Madeer, is slated to win a seat over Adan Mohamed Nur “Madoobe,” former speaker of Somalia. The two are fighting for a seat for Hadame, a subclan of Mirifle. Madoobe was the politician who had replaced Sharif Hassan as speaker in 2007, when the latter was voted out of office. Madoobe was also once a star in the SW, but has since fizzled out.

In one subclan of Mirifle, Liisaan, Sharif Hassan has anointed a new chieftain by the name of Malaaq Mohamed Adow. Professor Mohamed Mukhtar of Savannah State University’s late father, 100, was the chieftain of Liisaan in particular and Mirifle in general, but has passed away recently. Mukhtar’s brother, Malaaq Ali Malaaq Mukhtar, who lives in Australia, was supposed to lead the sub clan until Sharif Hassan chose his own man, Adow, a butcher by profession, to lead. Why Adow? First, Adow is married to Sharif Hassan’s sister. Secondly, Adow’s sister is married to Madeer, Sharif Hassan’s brother.

However, perhaps, Gelidle, another subclan of Mirifle, saw the most violent aspect of this election. The Gelidle chieftain, Malaaq Ibrahim Moalim, was beaten by soldiers when he defied Sharif Hassan. The strongman and his nephew, Mursal, wanted to have their people elected to parliament. Mursal’s wife, Samro, belongs to the Gelidle subclan. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce5pG9djlPc)

Corruption in its highest order

These are some features of the elections in the South West for the Lower House:

    1.      Each candidate selects his/her own 51 electors without any vetting. In other words, if you      are   approved to run for office, it is your responsibility to bring a list of people who will vote for you. It does not matter where these electors come or which clan they belong to. Alas, no one will check them. There are reports that Sharif Hassan’s soldiers have doubled as electors. One major condition is that the candidates must support Sharif Hassan. “Anyone who is not supporting me,” Sharif Hassan said in ruthlessly clear terms, “has no business running for parliament.”  

2.      The Election Committee, headed by Mursal, is involved in weaning out candidates seen as independents or have not paid enough bribes. There are instances in which legitimate candidates were barred from entering the polling places. Why Mursal, a government official, would oversee the election process is a question that has stumped many people? In essence, he is the judge and the jury.

3.      Unlike elections of the Lower House in Puntland, the South West does not allow the mass media to broadcast the proceedings live. Journalists in the South West are intimidated and harassed by Sharif Hassan’s people.

4.      Candidates who do not cooperate with Mursal are threatened that their pictures will be passed to Al-Shabaab. While Al-Shabaab militants are not on the ballot, they are a major factor in the election. All parliament candidates must submit their pictures in order to run for office and, unfortunately, these images are used as blackmail to pass to Al-Shabaab for those who refuse to cooperate with Sharif Hassan.

5.      Money flows like water in the SW during the elections.  The problem is that no one is caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The system lacks transparency and an independent election body to run the elections. In essence, as one candidate said, “It is a joke that there are elections in the South West in the first place.”

6.      Sharif Hassan controls Baydhabo, the largest city in the SW. He does not control outside of Baydhabo, an area run by Al-Shabaab. He and his followers have to fly in and out of Baydhabo. The same can be said about other regional states like Jubbaland, Galmudug, and Hirshabelle. In a way, these are all city-states. For the SW, Sharif Hassan lacks a pool of people to fill many vacancies. The candidates for office can’t visit the very areas they represent. That is why Sharif Hassan has to “create” his own candidates and fake mechanisms for electors and elected officials.

Perhaps, Mohamed Osman Jawari, speaker of the federal parliament, was the only politician elected fair and square in the SW. His election was attended by the media and two U.N observers in order to show the world that the process in Baydhabo was clean and fair. However, for many candidates, the election set off a cascade of grievances.

Somali Finance Minister, Mohamed Adan Farkeeti, was not lucky. Sharif Hassan did not want him to serve in the federal parliament even though Farkeeti spent a great deal of money in his campaign. Sharif Hassan had more than twenty five of Farkeeti’s electors detained in the presidential palace for two days and their cell phones confiscated. At the end, Farkeeti lost by one vote to a man very close to Sharif Hassan. Sometimes, money is not everything in the SW, especially if Sharif Hassan does not want you or sees you as a threat. Already, supporters of Farkeeti and Sharif Hassan have clashed in Baydhabo and gunfire has been exchanged. There is a great chance that these armed confrontations will spread across the SW.

Mukhtar Hassan Yarow, 57, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmWlU7PtWuc) saw firsthand the level of corruption in the South West elections. As a candidate, he was beaten and physically removed from the election site. “I have never seen something like this in my life,” he lamented, “with the prevalence of wrongdoing and corruption.” His rival brought with him 15 members of his immediate family to vote for him. Undeterred, Yarow still wanted to run. Finally, he was approached by Musal and was given a bona fide offer: “Withdraw.” When Yarow refused, he was hit on the back of his head by 20 soldiers and physically removed from the building.

Another young man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th20w2aD3CM ) held a short press conference —remember, there is fear among journalists—but proved to be powerful and effective. The young man asked the international community and President Hassan S. Mohamoud to interfere in the “so-called elections” in the South West. “It is a charade,” he said. He solely blamed Sharif Hassan and his nephew for the widespread corruption and use of force to intimidate and harass candidates.

Recently, Michael Keating, Special Representative of the U.N Secretary General to Somalia, conceded that “vote buying and bribes are a reality,” but added that “voting, when it actually takes place, is secret, that there are no cell phones for example for people to take photos on how they voted…”  The question is: what is the point of having secret voting when the pool of electors is tainted? What good would a secret ballot do when you, as a candidate, are assured that you will prevail? The problem with the SW is a combination of money, nepotism, an inexperienced pool of candidates, and a corrupt election committee, all of which is reflected on during their elections.