Family Of Genocidal Somali Dictator Linked To $1.8M Medicare-Funded Ohio Business

Interesting medicare, ohio, somali, taxpayer funded admin September 12, 2026 0 Comments

Family Of Genocidal Somali Dictator Linked To $1.8M Medicare-Funded Ohio Business

A home health business run by the family of a Somali dictator blamed for 200,000 deaths collected more than $1.8 million in taxpayer-funded Medicare money in Ohio.

Deka Mohamed Siad, 69, and her late husband, former ambassador Abdikarim Ali Omar, ran Vanguard Home Health Care, which drew the funding, according to the New York Post. The company appeared legitimate and filed proper paperwork before closing after his death in 2021, the Post reported. Deka is a daughter of Mohamed Siad Barre, the dictator toppled in 1991. (RELATED: Vance’s Anti-Fraud Taskforce Makes Major Move On Medicare Fraud)

She and her brother, Ayanle Mohamed Siad, 61, settled near Columbus after the regime fell, the Post reported. Both live among a Somali community roughly 70,000 strong, one that includes refugees who escaped the very regime their father commanded. That proximity has stirred anger, and some residents want federal authorities to examine the family’s conduct during the dictatorship.

Ali-Guban Mohamed, 64, whose relatives were killed by Barre’s forces, told the Post he was stunned to encounter the dictator’s son at a local mosque. “Siad Barre and his men committed so many war crimes so I was shocked to see his son [Ayanle] in the mosque enjoying his freedom,” he said.

Ayanle carried real weight inside the regime, according to Oxford researcher Mohamed Haji Ingiriis. He told the Post the son ran daily government affairs from Villa Somalia after his father was hurt in a car accident. Ayanle could hire and fire officials at will. Today he owns a translation firm, holds a tie to a Columbus coffee shop, and launched a nonprofit in 2004. He has never condemned his father publicly.

Barre seized control in a 1969 coup and governed for 21 years, according to the Post. His forces later turned on the Isaaq clan in the north between 1987 and 1989 in what became known as the Isaaq genocide, according to the Center for Justice and Accountability. Aerial bombardment leveled roughly 70 percent of Hargeisa and killed more than 5,000 civilians, the group reported, while nearly half a million Somalis fled to Ethiopia.

A federal court in 2012 found former Somali defense minister Mohamed Ali Samantar liable for atrocities and ordered him to pay $21 million, according to the Post. Activist Suleiman Bolaleh, who documented the regime’s crimes, wants the same scrutiny applied now.

“I am calling for an investigation to be opened against his family to find out exactly what they were doing during the civil war, what they know and to give up any proceeds they may have inherited from this criminal genocidal dictator,” Bolaleh said.