Puzzle of top Somalia official with Kenyan ID card

Kenyan authorities are investigating reports that a security chief in the Somali government holds Kenyan citizenship.

Fahad Dahir Ahmed (pictured above) also known as Fahad Yasin in Somalia was appointed the Deputy Director of National Intelligence Security Agency (NISA), last week, igniting heated debate.  

Mr Ahmed, who until last week was the Chief of Staff for Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Farmajo’, holds a Kenyan identity card and passport.

The powerful and controversial right hand man of the president, who played a critical role in his election last year, has been travelling using Kenyan documents.

According to documents seen by The Standard, Ahmed was issued a Kenyan passport (number C024542) on September 6, 2013. He got the identity card (number 22847167) in November 26, 2001.

His Kenyan passport. [Courtesy]

New position

He has been using the passport to travel in and out of Kenya. He was in Nairobi when President Abdullahi announced the shake-up in the security forces in which he was appointed to the new position.

Yesterday, Immigration Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa and Alexander Muteshi, Director of Immigration Services, confirmed they were aware of the matter, and that investigations had been launched.

“The issue was brought to our attention last week and we are handling it,” said Major-General (rtd)  Kihalangwa, who previously served as Director of Immigration Services.

The PS explained that it would be important to find out the truth.

“You cannot be a Kenyan and land a sensitive job like that in another country. Another matter of concern is whether as a dual citizen, you are allowed to hold such a serious position in another country,” he said.

Dual citizenship

Mr Muteshi explained that his department would scrutinise Ahmed’s documents to establish how he acquired them. He, however, pointed out that most Somalis hold dual citizenship.

“Since he is a senior government official, we will handle the matter diplomatically with Somalia. In the investigations, we will seek to establish if he had lived in Kenya for at least for seven years to qualify for ID and passport,” explained Muteshi

His Somalia identification. [Courtesy]

Ahmed has been the subject of sharp debate in a section of the Somali media, since he is also in possession of documents showing he is a Somali national.

Muqdishu online, a news website, reported that the former Aljazeera reporter, turned political wheeler-dealer, recently bought a house in an upmarket estate in Nairobi.

President Abdullahi heaped praise on Ahmed when he named him the Chief of Staff at Villa Somalia (State House) in June last year.

“I have appointed Fahad Yassin as the General Director of State House. He is a youth, has the capability and can accomplish well his national job assigned to him. I supplicate to Allah to make easy for him this huge responsibility,” he said in a statement to the media.