President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has picked the Africa Director of Oil exploration company Soma Oil a nd Gas Hassan Khayre to be the Prime Minister.
Farmaajo made this known through his Twitter account on Thursday before leaving the country for Saudi Arabia to perform the religious duty of Umrah.
“ I am happy and honored to be picked as the Prime Minister. I promise to deliver to the People of Somalia” Khayre told the media .
Khayre has pledged to work in a “transparent and smooth” manner
Khayre has a Somali and Norwegian dual citizenship and was once the Country Director of the Norwegian Refugee Council .
He was a subject of an investigation by the UN on possible links to the militant group Alshabaab but was later acquitted in 2016.UN had been investigating the oil company over possible terrorist links .
Khayre was a close ally of the immediate former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who in 2015 had appointed him to an IGAD position .
It is now upon the Parliament to vote whether Khayre should be the next Premier or not before a cabinet is named .
He was Norwegian Refugee Council Regional Director Horn of Africa before he resigned to join Somalia and OIl Company as Director with 1% stakeholde
