NAIROBI, June 26 (Horndiplomat) — Kenyan authorities deported Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Jibril Abdirashid Haji, after denying him entry at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport over allegations that he possessed a fraudulently obtained Kenyan passport, according to Kenyan media and government sources.
The incident occurred on Wednesday after Haji arrived from Mogadishu aboard a Saacid Airlines flight.
According to Citizen Digital, the Somalia official presented a valid Somali diplomatic passport and an entry visa on arrival. Kenyan immigration officers, however, allegedly flagged him after suspecting he was also carrying a Kenyan passport believed to have been obtained through fraudulent means.
The report said Haji acknowledged possessing the Kenyan passport but declined to surrender it to immigration officials, insisting that any dispute over the document should be resolved through legal proceedings.
The standoff reportedly led immigration authorities to detain the deputy prime minister at the airport’s VIP Lounge while senior officials reviewed the case.
He was later escorted onto a Daallo Airlines flight back to Mogadishu, effectively denying him entry into Kenya.
A police report cited by Citizen Digital said Haji departed Kenya at 6:45 a.m. local time on June 25 “with no incident reported.”
Neither the Kenyan government nor the Somali government had publicly commented on the incident at the time of publication.
Citizen Digital quoted a senior Kenyan government official as saying authorities are increasingly concerned about the growing number of foreign nationals allegedly obtaining Kenyan passports illegally through corrupt networks.
Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the alleged acquisition of the passport are ongoing, according to the report.
If confirmed by both governments, the incident could further strain relations between Kenya and Somalia, which have periodically experienced diplomatic tensions over security, maritime boundaries and regional political issues.
Horndiplomat could not independently verify the allegations surrounding the passport, and no charges have been publicly announced against the Somalia deputy prime minister.
(Reporting by Horn Diplomat Desk; Editing by Desk)
