Capt. Roba was born in Rhamu town in Mandera County on the 15th of March 1974. He is married with 11 children. Among the many Colleges that Roba attended for professional courses for various Diplomas and Certificates are Kenya Utalii College, Delta Qualiflight School of Aviation, Kenya School of Flying. He studied at the University of Nairobi for both his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the area of marketing and strategic management respectively.

Capt. Roba was born in Rhamu town in Mandera County on March 15, 1974. He is married with 11 children.

Among the many colleges that Roba attended for professional courses for various diplomas and certificates are Kenya Utalii College, Delta Qualiflight School of Aviation, and Kenya School of Flying. He studied at the University of Nairobi for both his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the areas of marketing and strategic management, respectively. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in business administration at the United States International University-Africa (USIU).

Captain Ali is a pilot with an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL). He has served in the aviation industry as a pilot, an instructor, an examiner, an approved instrument rating examiner, a Training and check pilot, and a ground instructor of various aviation-related subjects between 2002 and 2012.

He worked for a multinational company called DAC Aviation International between 2002 and 2012 and has grown through the ranks, starting as a co-pilot in 2002 to the position of Director of Flight Operations (DFO), in charge of the core business of the company in over nine countries.

Capt. Roba has over ten years of extensive management training and over 21 years of work experience as a senior manager.

HE Capt. Roba is the first governor of the Mandera County Government. He served as governor from March 4th, 2013 to August 25th, 2022. He was also the chairman of the FCDC (Frontier Counties Development Council), which was the first regional economic bloc to be formed by counties in Kenya in 2014 and brought together the 10 counties of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, Lamu, Samburu, West Pokot, and Turkana since 2017. HE Governor Ali Roba was elected several times to chair the arid and semi-arid lands committee of the Council of Governors during his ten-year tenure as a governor. The ASAL Committee comprises the 23 ASAL counties in Kenya.

On August 9, 2022, HE Capt. Ali Ibrahim Roba was elected as the Third Senator for Mandera County. On October 20, 2022, Hon. Roba was elected and approved as the Senate Finance and Budget Committee Chairman.

Hon. Ali Roba is also the party leader of the UDM (United Democratic Movement Party), which is the fifth-strongest in strength nationally. (In 2022, it won 11 MPs, 2 governors, and 64 members of county assemblies nationally.)

Captain Roba is also the Director of Richland Ventures Africa Limited