Osman feared office-holders would cling to power for comforts, a fear that proved true.

Evidence

Osman refused to live in a government-provided house after he became Speaker of parliament. Instead he used his housing allowance to improve the quality of his own house. His rationale for doing this was that he did not want to get attached to the comforts of office. From early on, he was worried that many ministers and senior politicians might be unwilling to give up such comforts and therefore would do everything possible to stay in power. This was a perceptive insight, and Osman’s fears came true in later years. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1293

Categorization

• XREF: Foreshadows the 1969 coup in Somalia, connecting to Osman’s fear that elites would not relinquish power—this is a through-line for the reader’s whole period of study.