Ali Haji Warsame (Cali Xaaji Warsame): accountant, Golis Telecom chief and Puntland education minister

Who is he?

Ali Haji Warsame (Somali: Cali Xaaji Warsame) is a Puntland entrepreneur, accountant and politician. He was born in 1964 in Seemade, a village near Jariiban in Mudug. His father was a lawyer, judge and community leader who took part in the independence movement of the 1940s and 1950s; his mother is from Sool (Wikipedia, Ali Haji Warsame). He is from the Omar Mahmoud, Majeerteen, Harti, Darod (same source).

Study and training

He began school in Hargeisa and finished primary school in Gaalkacyo. He earned a bachelor's degree in business management and administration from the Somali Institute for Development, Administration and Management (SIDAM) in 1990, and an MBA in management information systems from the American University in London in 2003. He is a certified public accountant, a member of the Somali Association of Certified Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a licensed auditor in Delaware (Wikipedia).

Bosaso port and the Gulf

He started as financial and administrative controller of Man and Brothers, a water installation firm. When the civil war began in 1991 he moved to the north-east, and from 1993 to 1996 he was the first director of management at the port of Bosaso (Wikipedia). See Somalia's seaports.

He later moved to the United Arab Emirates. He worked as an auditor at the Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority, financial controller at the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone, senior auditor at Al-Radhwan Accounting and Auditing, and senior consultant and partner at Falcon Associates. From 2001 to 2003 he taught accounting, auditing and business law in Abu Dhabi and Dubai (same source).

Golis Telecom

He returned to Somalia in 2012 as chief executive of Golis Telecom, the largest operator in Puntland, and held the post from May 2012 to October 2013. In 2013 the company had 41 branches and 141 centres in Puntland, Somaliland and Galmudug (Wikipedia). Golis said in 2015 that more than 1.5 million people used its network every day, and that it ran the Sahal and Taaj mobile money services (Radio Daljir, 6 July 2015).

Politics

He ran in the Puntland presidential election held in Garowe on 8 January 2014, with the backing of former vice president Mohamed Ali Yusuf "Gaagaab". He reached the second round, where he received 16 votes, against 18 for Abdiweli Mohamed Ali "Gaas" and 31 for the incumbent, Abdirahman Farole; Abdiweli Mohamed Ali went on to win (Wikipedia).

On 28 January 2014 the new president appointed him Minister of Education (same source). On 16 June 2015 President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali removed eight ministers in his first reshuffle, including Education Minister Ali Haji Warsame, who was visiting London at the time (Garowe Online, 16 June 2015). See Puntland's institutions.

He is also a trustee of MURDA, a UK charity that runs training and education programmes (Wikipedia).

Sources disagree

• His years in the Gulf. Wikipedia lists him as senior consultant and partner at Falcon Associates from June 1991 to March 2012, years that overlap with his post at Bosaso port from 1993 to 1996 (Wikipedia).
• His ministry. Wikipedia's infobox calls the post Minister of Education and Higher Education, its opening paragraph Minister of Higher Education, and Garowe Online calls him Education Minister (Wikipedia; Garowe Online).