Lifelong gardener of Somalia’s Villa Somalia dies

Sheikh Ahmed Mursal, the lifelong gardener of Somalia’s Presidential Palace, who served every President and witnessed the historic flag-raising on independence night in 1960, passed away.

Sheikh Ahmed started working at Villa Somalia in the late fifties when the Italians were still in charge.

Sheikh Ahmed Mursal was at the presidential palace every time Somalia celebrated its Independence Day since 1960, and every other great occasion of state since, including presidential inaugurations and visits by foreign heads of state.

Sheikh Ahmed Mursal during his lifetimes said Of all of Somalia’s presidents, Mohammed Siad Barre had taken the most interest in the garden, sometimes bringing back seeds from abroad for Sheikh Ahmed.
Sheikh Ahmed has left a whole clan of well over two hundred, that is his children and grandchildren. Sheikh Ahmed in an interview in 2009 said proudly. “And not one of my children has ever carried a gun. Everything I have has come from gardening, from trees and flowers.” He had seen to it that his children were educated; one son had been sent to Finland, another to the United Kingdom.

Sheikh Ahmed was a patriotic Somali, had an imaginable love for the country’s flag, a deep desire for the nation’s success, and an intense love of his country.