THESE pictures say it all—the moment the first-ever Solami mayor in Britain takes office.

By Else Kvist — The historic moment was captured last night by the East London Advertiser when Ahmed Omer became mayor of Tower Hamlets as the prestigious chain of office was placed on his shoulders.“I’m enormously proud of my heritage both as a Somali and as an East Ender,” he told the council chamber.“There has been a Somali community here for more than 200 years. There are 10,000 Somalis in Tower Hamlets today.”

WRANGLE

It was the first time the local press was actually allowed to photograph the annual mayor’s ceremony after years of wrangling, unlike most local authorities up and down the country which make a grand public occasion of mayor-making.
Tower Hamlets finally agreed to let the East London Advertiser’s photographer Carmen Valino in to ‘capture’ the moment outgoing mayor Muhammad Salique handed over the reins to Ahmed. It followed pressure from the Advertiser earlier in the day to members of the ruling Labour group to relax the ‘no camera’ order for the handover.

But even then, Carmen was barred from getting too close by the Town Hall’s communications boss and had to manage with a telescopic photo-lens from the public gallery.

CHARITIES

Cllr Omer was brought up in Bethnal Green, the son of a merchant seaman. His year of office will focus largely on working with the East End’s older community as well as youngsters, with his chosen charities being St Margaret’s Settlement and the Bangladeshi Parents & Carers Association. Cllr Omer becomes 45th Mayor of the London borough in the same year he had turned 45.  His Deputy Mayor also enrolled last night at the Town Hall’s AGM is Cllr Lutfa Begum, the first Bengali woman in the role.

Source: ELA24

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