Mystery of Somali state official with Kenyan passports

Kenya is investigating how a senior official in the government of Somalia acquired multiple Kenyan passports and a national identity card with conflicting dates of birth and which he has been using whenever he travels abroad.

Mr Ahmed Fahad Dahir, the deputy director of Somali Intelligence Agency, is in possession of a Kenyan passport C024542 as well as an identity card No. 22847167 whose acquisition is now the subject of probe by the investigative agencies.

Mr Dahir alias Fahad Yasin, claims to have been born in Mandera, Kenya on July 19, 1978 despite his Somalia identity card showing that he was born in Somalia and that the document was issued on July 13, 2017.

But details on his Kenyan ID card show that he was born on April 5, 1978 with the document being issued in 2001 in Mandera East Constituency.

Principal Secretary Immigration, Border Control and Registration of Persons Maj Gen (Rtd) Gordon Kihalang’wa Monday confirmed the investigations are on but declined to give more information.

“We got this information and we are trying to investigate the details of the documents and how they were acquired by the individual,” Mr Kihalang’wa said.

But when probed further, he said, “I cannot comment on something that I haven’t authenticated.”

Article 14 (1) of the Kenyan Constitution provides that a person is a citizen by birth if on the day of the person’s birth, whether or not the person is born in Kenya, either their mother or father is a Kenyan citizen.

The article also provides that Clause 1 applies equally to a person born before the effective date, whether or not the person was born in Kenya, if either their mother or father is or was a Kenyan citizen.

Director of Immigration Services Alexander Muteshi has also confirmed the matter, saying it is under investigations.

“Our investigative team is already on the ground to establish the veracity of the documents. What I know is that the Somali laws just like Kenya’s, provide for dual citizenship but how they go in terms holding a senior position in their government, I may not know,” Mr Muteshi said.

In Kenya, one is prohibited from holding a senior government position if he or she has dual citizenship.

Mr Muteshi, a former National Intelligence Service (NIS) director of counter terrorism coordination, said that Mr Dahir may have acquired the Kenyan documents at the time when majority of Somali nationals were seeking refuge in Kenya in 1990s when Somalia was facing political instability following the fall of Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime in 1990.

“Majority of these people flocked into the country and ended up acquiring Kenyan documents but with stability normalising in Somalia, they are now trooping back,” he said.

The intervention of the international community – the United Nations and the European Union – through the Africa Mission in Somalia (Amisom), has helped address the political and the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.

A prominent news website in Somalia – Muqdisho online – claims that Mr Dahir has lived in Kenya prior to becoming the campaign manager of Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Faarmajo.

It further claims that he has worked for Aljazeera as a reporter.

The publication also claims that he is extremely rich and that he owns multi-million properties in the country including a house in one of the city’s upmarket residence and that he is well connected among the Kenyan politicians.