A diplomatic incident unfolded at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) after Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister was denied entry into Kenya and deported back to Mogadishu over allegations linked to a Kenyan passport.
According to witnesses and immigration officials Jibril Abdirashid Haji, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, arrived at Terminal 2 of JKIA on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at about 4:00 p.m. aboard a Saacid Airline flight from Mogadishu.
The officials said Haji, who was travelling on a Somali diplomatic passport valid until September 18, 2029, presented a valid visa during routine immigration clearance.
However, immigration officials reportedly suspected that the senior Somali official had fraudulently acquired a Kenyan passport.
During questioning, the Deputy Prime Minister is said to have admitted possessing the Kenyan travel document but declined to surrender it to authorities, insisting that he could only produce it before a court of law.
Following the interrogation, the Somali official was held at the VIP lounge in Terminal 2 as immigration and security agencies processed the matter.
Authorities later arranged for his return to Somalia aboard a Daallo Airlines flight. He departed JKIA on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at 6:45 a.m. without any reported incident.
Kenyan authorities have not publicly commented on the circumstances surrounding the alleged acquisition of the Kenyan passport or whether further investigations are underway.
The incident is likely to attract diplomatic attention given Haji’s senior position within the Somali government and the close bilateral relations between Kenya and Somalia.
Officials from both governments had not issued formal statements on the matter by the time of publication.
Cases of Somalis forging Kenyan documents have been on the rise with corruption being blamed for the same.
Some of the foreigners with the documents have been arrested and prosecuted.
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