Former Dadaab refugee Ilhan finds her place in American Congress

Nyaboga Kiage If there is a time in her political career Ms Ilhan Omar has faced constant hurdles that could have seen her lose the House seat in Minnesota, then it is 2020 - the same year she was re-elected to the Congress. Ms Omar, 38, - who was once a refugee in Dadaab, Kenya before she left for America in 1995 has spent the better part of this year defending herself after Sh100 million from her campaign was wired to her husband’s Tim Mynnet political consultancy firm. However, on Wednesday morning, Ms Omar emerged winner after she garnered 64.6 percent of the votes against her closest competitor Lacy Johnson an American businessman who managed to get 25.9 percent of the total votes. Omar won the district, which include; Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey counties beating Johnson, a well-oiled businessman who ran on a Republican Party ticket. The Somali - American could not hide her joy and moments after it emerged that she had won- she posted the progress on Facebook. “We are building a movement that sees my struggle as inherently tied to your struggle, and sees a world where all workers can be uplifted. Together, Today’s vote- the results of this election- are not the end. This is just the beginning,” the post read. Telling off Trump It was followed by a series of tweets on her official account telling off Trump over his threat to move to the Supreme Court to stop vote counting in the highly contested presidential election. When she first ran for office in 2018, rumours went round that Ms Omar married her own brother Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in order to secure travel documents to the US from Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. In the US marriage fraud is punishable by five years in jail and a fine of upto Sh25 million. After she was announced winner that year, Ms Omar went ahead and successfully overturned a 181-year ban on headwear in the House, allowing her to wear a hijab for her oath of office. Omar has in recent months provided fodder for Trump, accusing her of being a fraudster who should never have been in the US in the first place. Closer home, three Kenyans who were eyeing different positions in the US elections failed to clinch the seats. The trio, Ms Janet Kitui was eyeing one of the Edina City Council seats, Henry Momanyi who was eyeing Brooklyn Park’s City Council and Ukasha Dakane also eyeing one of the Edina City Council seats did not succeed in beating their rivals. Ms Kitui who moved to the U.S in 1998 is a Minnesota state employee and has lived in Edina- one of the state’s most affluent suburbs for years and this was her second bid for a council seat. Dakane, who has stayed in the U.S for seven years, was also eyeing the Edina County Council seat. Momanyi was challenging Ms Susan Pha the incumbent Brooklyn Park City Council member. Momanyi has worked in the non-profit sector for over 15 years and has lived in Brooklyn Park for over five years.

Former Dadaab refugee Ilhan finds her place in American Congress

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Former Dadaab refugee Ilhan finds her place in American Congress

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