By Abdi Ibrahim

Mr. President I know its a bit out of line sending you a letter through this way but its the only way I think I might get in touch with you. I know you have advisors and so on but I doubt if any are any good or are simply too afraid to point this out to you but I think you should know this.

I have seen over the years the numerous visits or so that you have undertaken to different nations around the world and on each visit I seem to have noticed that you have taken your wife Huda Barkhad along with you. Just to illustrate my point if one looks through the pictures associated with your most recent trip to the UK and USA she is right there among the delegates in almost all the pictures. Now I do not wish to dwell on the cost of taking her along with you but the point I wish to make is simple. Nearly all state visits by any president means the first lady is there as well but in your case you are the president of an unrecognized nation which does not make your visit an official state visit.

Moreover half the people you meet on your visits are technocrats or low level political appointees and as such dragging the missus with you is really a waste. On your US trip I also noticed from the pictures online your lunch with the undersecretary of State at the State department, she was sitting next to you. Now I seriously doubt if any of the people you met had their spouses with them and as such there was no need to have taken her. Even the most educated stay home mum in America would rather be home watching tv then to be with their husbands in a meeting. Secondly that whole experience I believe is what they call a working lunch in America. Instead you should have sent her on a sightseeing trip around the beautiful DC area or to one of the many malls in Virginia while you and your ministers discussed matters of importance to our nation. Even though your visit to the US can not be called a state visit however if you think it was then I believe that is what other presidents wives do while their husbands are busy with matters of state.

As far as the meeting you had with the Somaliland community in Arlington, Virginia I again think she should not have been there. Normally in meetings like that where there is a question and answer session there are moments where someone could say the wrong thing and as far as our Somali culture goes its wrong to reprimand a man in front of his wife. Therefore if you think it’s very important to take your wife along make sure you pick the moments when she should be around and when she should be sightseeing….

Abdi Ibrahim, Columbus, Ohio