Somalia’s Second Deputy PM Surrenders Kenyan Passport and Birth Certificate

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Second Deputy Prime Minister, Jibril Abdirashid Haji, has surrendered his Kenyan passport and a birth certificate issued by Kenyan authorities, weeks after he was denied entry at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The minister handed over the documents during a brief event in Mogadishu. Video recordings of the event also show the passport and accompanying Kenyan birth certificate being handed over.

The surrender follows reports that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud ordered members of his Cabinet possessing Kenyan passports allegedly acquired through irregular means to hand them over. The Somali presidency has not publicly released the reported directive or identified the officials affected.

Questions now centre on how Haji obtained the Kenyan documents, which government offices issued them and what information was provided during the registration and passport-application processes.

The birth certificate is particularly significant because it appears to have formed part of the identity documents supporting Haji’s claim to Kenyan citizenship. Kenyan passport applications generally require supporting records, including a national identity card and birth certificate or other proof of citizenship.

Haji was turned back at JKIA after arriving from Mogadishu on June 24, 2026. He was travelling on a valid Somali diplomatic passport and held a Kenyan visa, according to Kenyan media reports citing immigration officials and a police incident report.

During routine clearance, Kenyan officials questioned him about a Kenyan passport they suspected had been acquired fraudulently. The reports said Haji acknowledged possessing the passport but initially declined to surrender it, insisting that he would only produce the document through a court process.

He was held at the airport’s VIP lounge before being placed on a flight to Mogadishu on the morning of June 25. The incident became public on June 26. Some reports described the action as a deportation, while others said he had been denied entry.

On June 29, Haji issued a statement rejecting allegations circulating about his visit to Kenya. He called them “false, baseless and unsupported by fact” and urged the public and media not to spread unverified claims. The statement did not directly explain how he had acquired the Kenyan passport or the birth certificate surrendered in Mogadishu.

Possession of Somali and Kenyan passports is not automatically unlawful because Kenya recognises dual citizenship. A Kenyan birth certificate also does not, by itself, conclusively establish citizenship, since births occurring within Kenya may be registered irrespective of the parents’ nationality.

The key legal question is whether Haji qualified for Kenyan citizenship and whether the surrendered passport and birth certificate were obtained through lawful procedures. No court has publicly ruled on the validity of the documents or found Haji guilty of fraud.

Kenyan and Somali authorities have not announced whether the surrendered documents will be subjected to a joint investigation. The handover is nevertheless expected to intensify demands for an inquiry into who authorised their issuance and whether other senior Somali officials possess similar Kenyan documents.