A mounting cohort of senior Somali government ministers is preparing to surrender their Kenyan passports and national identity documents within days, complying with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s directive that dual citizens holding public office must renounce their foreign nationality or vacate their posts, according to multiple informed sources.
The anticipated wave of surrenders marks the most aggressive enforcement of citizenship integrity standards within the executive branch in recent memory. The move builds on Deputy Prime Minister Jibril Abdirashid Haji’s decision earlier this week to return his Kenyan travel documents to the Kenyan Embassy in Mogadishu, establishing a binding precedent for cabinet colleagues.
In a brief statement, Jibril said the action was intended to guarantee “complete transparency” in the execution of his official duties and to preempt any challenge to his national allegiance.
Sources speaking on condition of anonymity said several ministers and state ministers are now finalizing arrangements to submit their Kenyan passports and identification cards to the diplomatic mission. Officials are moving quickly to avoid the perception of defying the president’s edict, which was first articulated during a closed-door cabinet meeting last Thursday.
“The president made it unequivocally clear that retaining a foreign passport while occupying a senior government portfolio is untenable,” one source said. “Those who intend to retain their cabinet seats are moving swiftly to comply, and a series of handovers is widely anticipated before the week concludes.”
The directive has cast a harsh glare on the prevalence of dual citizenship among Somalia’s political elite — a sensitive issue long left unaddressed but now thrust into the open. Although Somalia’s provisional constitution does not explicitly prohibit dual nationality for public officials, the president’s order effectively imposes a new litmus test for the upper echelons of power, compelling officials to choose definitively between their Somali responsibilities and foreign entitlements.
The enforcement drive comes amid heightened scrutiny of senior officials’ travel documentation. Some figures have recently encountered obstacles at Kenyan ports of entry. State Minister at the Presidency Abdirashid was reportedly turned away by Kenyan immigration authorities, though it remains unclear whether that incident directly precipitated the presidential directive.
Villa Somalia has yet to issue a formal communiqué on the enforcement timeline, and the Kenyan government has likewise refrained from commenting on the expected influx of surrendered documents. Insiders suggest the list of compliant officials will expand as the president’s unannounced deadline looms, with further developments expected imminently.
