Abdi Yusuf Hassan
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Yusuf Hassan Abdi ( so, Yuusuf Xasan Cabdi, ar, يوسف حسن عبدي) (born March 9, 1953) is a Kenyan politician, diplomat, social activist and former journalist. After working many years with the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, he joined the Kenya parliament as a legislator in 2011.


Background


Personal life

Hassan was born in 1953 in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...
to an ethnic Somali family. Hassan is Muslim. He is multilingual, speaking Somali,
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and Swahili fluently. He also has a working knowledge of
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, French and
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.


Education

For his elementary education, Hassan studied at the Garissa Primary School in Garissa. He later transferred to Nairobi's Aga Khan Primary School. Upon graduation, Hassan attended the Chavakali high School in
vihiga Vihiga is a town in Kenya located on the eastern side of the Kakamega Forest. Geography The town is along the road between Kisumu and Kakamega, and only five kilometres north of the equator. Vihiga bears the same name as its county, Vihiga Count ...
. In Form III, with one year of high school remaining, he was expelled from the institution for having reportedly spearheaded a strike. Hassan subsequently moved to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in pursuit of higher studies. He attended the University of Middlesex, where he earned a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree (BA) in Humanities, graduating with honours. He also earned a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) at the same institution. Additionally, Hassan worked toward a postgraduate degree in public administration and politics at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. He later obtained a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
degree (MA) in international relations from
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...
at
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
in Medford, Massachusetts.


Career


General

In a professional capacity, Hassan began his career in 1974 as an announcer/producer with the Nairobi-based
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) is the state-run media organisation of Kenya. It broadcasts in English and Swahili, as well as in most local languages of Kenya. The corporation started its life in 1928 when Kenya was a British colony. I ...
(KBC), then known as Voice of Kenya. He subsequently joined the ''
Arab Times ''Arab Times'' is the first English-language newspaper published in independent Kuwait. History The ''Arab Times'' was started in 1977 by Dar Al-Seyassah as a weekly publication, and was soon transferred into a daily newspaper, playing a remark ...
'' in 1978, working for almost a year as a reporter for the
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
i newspaper. Between 1979 and 1984, Hassan served as a producer for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
External Service in London. He spent the next five years as a Senior Editor for the ''Africa Events'' monthly magazine, which he had also co-founded. Due to political unrest and repression in Kenya, Hassan remained in exile at the end of his two-year work contract. He then served as an executive member of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPPK), a protest organization that he had helped found. He also co-edited the association's journal. In 1987, Hassan was elected Chairman of the Ukenya opposition group based in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Because of his leading role with the association in exposing human rights abuses committed by the Kenyan government against local residents, his passport was revoked and his father was arrested. In 1990, Hassan steered a group of consultants tasked with assisting the government of
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
in transitioning its National Radio and Television into a viable public broadcaster. He was the media organization's inaugural Director of Operations, and participated in the tabling of the country's first post-independence communications bill and information policy paper. From 1992 to 1994, Hassan served as a senior broadcaster of
Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
's Africa Division. He subsequently traveled to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, where he spent the next few months helping to set up the nation's first community radio station for the local South African population. In 1994, Hassan joined the
UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
based in
Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
. He was thereafter assigned to a number of different diplomatic posts around the world, acting as the Senior External Media Relations and Public Information Officer for the Southern SADC Region. Between 1999 and 2001, he was the UNHCR's Head of External and Media Relations in
Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
and
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, based in
Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
. He also represented the agency in
East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
and
Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
. In 2001 and 2002, Hassan acted as the senior spokesman for the United Nations' operations in
Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
. He spent the next four years as a Senior Policy Adviser for the UN Secretary General in New York. His areas of concern included the Horn of Africa, the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
, Southwest Asia and the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
region. From 2006 to 2007, Hassan served as Director of IRIN, a UN news organization. He subsequently worked as the UNHCR's Regional Communications Manager in Nairobi.


Political career

Prompted by requests from the Somali business community in
Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...
to run for office, Hassan stepped down from his post with the UN in 2007 to present himself as a candidate in that year's Kamukunji by-election. Initially running on an
Orange Democratic Movement The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people's movement which was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign. This movement separated in Augu ...
(ODM) ticket, he reportedly won the seat until party leaders later reversed the decision and awarded the position to a rival challenger. Hassan subsequently switched tickets to ODM-Kenya, where he came in third in a December 2007 by-election marred by voting irregularities. According to Hassan's supporters and one of his key campaigners Ms Saumu Saidi, he would have won the seat had it not been for stolen ballot boxes. In August 2011, Hassan again presented himself as a candidate for the Kamukunji Constituency, this time on a Party of National Unity (PNU) ticket. He obtained 19,030 votes, securing the win in an election marked by low voter turnout and party clashes, but otherwise described as free and fair. During his first few months in parliament, Hassan was a frequent floor speaker. Addressing the National Assembly 214 times as of December 2012, he often championed issues of concern to his Somali community. In 2012, Hassan announced his intention to run again for office. He subsequently met with Somali groups in Columbus, Ohio to drum up support for his re-election bid. The ensuing conference was reportedly attended by many members of the Somali community, who greeted Hassan warmly and pledged to support his campaign. On December 7, 2012, Hassan was wounded in a night-time grenade attack in Eastleigh, while he was convening with his constituents after prayers at the Hidaya Mosque. According to Hiiraan Online, he had been targeted by anti-peace elements, who tried to assassinate him due to his work with the Kamukunji Constituency. Hassan was subsequently transported to the Aga Khan Hospital, where he was treated for a broken leg. Police later cordoned off the scene of the explosion as they conducted investigations into the blast's cause. In January 2013, Hassan underwent extensive reconstructive surgery on his lower legs at a
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hospital. He was reportedly making good progress according to his wife. In March 2013, on a
The National Alliance The National Alliance (TNA) was a political party in Kenya. It took on its current identity when Uhuru Kenyatta assumed control and renamed it as the vehicle for his 2012 presidential campaign. History The National Alliance was founded as the ...
(TNA) party ticket, Sympathetically Hassan was re-elected to a second term as an MP for the Kamukunji Constituency. On August 8, 2017, he was re-elected back to parliament in a Jubilee ticket winning by 54% of the total votes cast. He was re-elected for a fourth term in the
2022 Kenyan general election General elections are scheduled to be held in Kenya on 9 August 2022. Voters will elect the President of Kenya, President, members of the National Assembly (Kenya), National Assembly and Senate of Kenya, Senate, county governors and members of ...
.


Awards

In 2012, Hassan was named Person of the Year by the Somali news organization Hiiraan Online."Hon. Yusuf Hassan: HOL Person of the Year 2012"
''Hiiraan Online'', 10 January 2013. Retrieved on 8 July 2015. According to the media outlet, Abdi was chosen because of his effective representation of the Somali community, his strong relationship with Eastleigh's business constituency, and his success in landing key infrastructure development projects for the riding.


See also

*
Amina Mohamed Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril ( so, Aamina Maxamed Jibriil; ar, أمينة محمد جبريل), born 5 October 1961, is a former Kenyan cabinet secretary, lawyer and a diplomat of Somali descent. She is the immediate former Cabinet Secretary ...


Notes


References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdi, Yusuf Hassan 1953 births Living people Ethnic Somali people Kenyan people of Somali descent Kenyan Muslims People from Nairobi Alumni of Middlesex University Alumni of the University of London Members of the 11th Parliament of Kenya Party of National Unity (Kenya) politicians Somalian expatriates in the United Kingdom The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni Members of the 12th Parliament of Kenya Members of the 13th Parliament of Kenya