A fresh diplomatic row is brewing between Kenya and Somalia after Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister was allegedly denied entry into Kenya and deported over reports that he had a fraudulently acquired Kenyan passport.

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), where Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Jibril Abdirashid Haji, arrived on a Saacid Airlines flight from Mogadishu.

Haji presented a valid Somali diplomatic passport and an entry visa on arrival. However, immigration officers allegedly flagged him after suspecting that he was also carrying a Kenyan passport believed to have been obtained illegally.

Sources familiar with the matter say the Somali official acknowledged having the Kenyan passport but declined to surrender it to immigration authorities, insisting that the matter be handled through the courts.

The standoff prompted senior immigration officials to detain Haji at the JKIA VIP Lounge as investigations into his travel documents continued. He was later escorted onto a Daallo Airlines flight bound for Mogadishu, effectively denying him entry into Kenya. However, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the deportation.

“He departed on 25/06/2026 at 0645hrs with no incident reported,” a police report on the incident states.

Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the alleged acquisition of the passport are ongoing

So far, neither the Kenyan nor the Somali government had issued an official statement on the incident