A mounting cohort of senior Somali government ministers is poised to surrender their Kenyan passports and national identity documents within days, heeding President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's ultimatum that dual citizens holding public office must forswear their foreign nationality or immediately vacate their posts, according to multiple informed sources.
The impending wave of surrenders represents the most aggressive enforcement of citizenship integrity standards within the executive branch in recent memory, building on Deputy Prime Minister Jibril Abdirashid Haji's unilateral decision to return his Kenyan travel documents,a move that effectively set a binding precedent for his cabinet colleagues.
Deputy Prime Minister Jibril Abdirashid Haji became the first senior figure to bow to the directive when he formally handed over his Kenyan passport to the Kenyan Embassy in Mogadishu earlier this week.
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In a terse statement, Jibril asserted the move was designed to guarantee "complete transparency" in the execution of his official duties and to preempt any challenge to his national allegiance.
Sources who spoke to Dalsan on condition of anonymity, citing lack of authorisation to engage publicly on the matter, disclosed that several ministers and state ministers are now finalising arrangements to submit their Kenyan travel credentials and identification cards to the diplomatic mission. The sources indicated that the officials are acting with haste to avoid being perceived as defying the President's edict, which was first articulated during a closed-door cabinet sitting last Thursday.
"The President made it unequivocally clear that retaining a foreign passport while occupying a senior government portfolio is untenable," one source told Dalsan. "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 outlaw 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 against the backdrop of heightened scrutiny of senior officials' travel documentation, with some figures having recently encountered obstacles at Kenyan ports of entry.
State Minister at the Presidency Abdirashid was among those reportedly turned away by Kenyan immigration authorities, although it remains unclear whether that incident directly precipitated the presidential directive.
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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. However, insiders suggest the list of compliant officials will expand as the President's unannounced deadline looms, with further developments expected imminently.
