Somali Chamber of Commerce Endorses Vivek Ramaswamy for Governor

STATEWIDE - As the Republican primary is beginning to ramp up, drawing nearer to the February deadline, information is rolling in regarding candidate endorsements. The current Republican frontrunner, Vivek Ramaswamy, has garnered several standard party endorsements and recently some obtuse ones. It was recently discovered that the Somali American Chamber of Commerce, an entity located in Columbus Ohio, has given Vivek Ramaswamy their full endorsement. 

In a recently unearthed February post, Shafi Shafat, president of the Somali Chamber of Commerce gave a full endorsement to the candidate he believed would help empower minority communities in Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy.

“As the President of the Somali American Chamber of Commerce USA, and on behalf of the Somali community in Ohio, I am proud to officially endorse Vivek Ramaswamy as the next Governor of Ohio. After extensive discussions with community leaders, business professionals, and our youth, we have unanimously decided to support a leader who embodies integrity, vision, and a deep commitment to the future of Ohio. Vivek Ramaswamy is a man of high dignity, strong principles, and a youthful energy that will drive Ohio toward greater prosperity and inclusivity. We believe that under his leadership, Ohio will flourish, fostering economic growth, empowering minority communities, and creating opportunities for all. His commitment to entrepreneurship, innovation, and fair governance aligns with the values we hold dear. We stand with Vivek Ramaswamy and look forward to a brighter future for Ohio under his leadership!”

The endorsement is somewhat troubling to some given the recent revelations about fraud rings involving Somali run daycares. With Columbus Ohio being the second largest Somali population center in the nation, many are looking to the state capital for some level of investigations into their own suspicions of fraud occurring in the state.

Earlier last week, X account 'Libs of TikTok' posted information that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s ambassador to the United Nations, previously served as a director of a 'suspicious' healthcare company in Ohio. According to an investigation, Osman was listed as a managing director of Progressive Health Care Services Inc., a healthcare company in Cincinnati, from 2014 until May 2019.

This coincided with his tenure as Somalia’s U.N. ambassador, which began in June of 2017, meaning his “work” at Progressive Health Care Services Inc. overlapped his U.N. tenure by two years. During these two years, “Progressive Health Care Services Inc. was subject to billing and compliance scrutiny" due to irregularities discovered.

Despite these 'oddities', the state government has maintained there is unlikely to be any widespread fraud issues in Ohio, with Governor DeWine issuing a statement on the matter stating Ohio's guardrails are foolproof enough to have discovered any potential fraud.

Still, many are demanding greater action and the revelation of the Somali Chamber endorsement of Vivek could not have come at a more difficult time for the candidate.