Mogadishu (UM) – Kenya’s aggression against Somalia is escalating to humiliation of its Parliamentarians and Ministers. Yesterday a delegation of Somali lawmakers who travelled to Kenya for official business were refused entry at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with their Diplomatic passports. The agreement between Somalia and Kenya is that Somali lawmakers travelling to Kenya must get a visa on arrival because so many of the international agencies and partners working with the government are based in Nairobi. Three honourable Somali lawmakers returned from Kenya and abandoned their meetings while it is widely reported that others accompanying them including the Ministers of National Planning, Health and the National Security adviser produced foreign passports to enter Kenya. If this is true, it is a disgrace and betrayal of their oath to serve Somalia. Many in Somalia are wondering are the Diaspora so disloyal? No meeting or reason can justify their entry into a country which clearly does not respect their country or their positions. What honour do they have there today?
The offices of the Prime Minister and President must investigate these truly shocking allegations against senior members of their government who abandoned their fellow country men and lawmakers in the very airport they were so publicly humiliated in. If the allegations are true, all should be sacked for shaming themselves and their proud nation. More embarrassingly, their Diplomatic passports which they so readily abandoned should be cancelled by Somali immigration authorities. This is what any other country would do.
The Kenyan government intimidation of Somali business owners will end badly for them. The Somali business community liberated Kenyan consumers from monopoly, high prices and limited choice. They invested in creating jobs and wealth in Kenya and turning a wasteland called Eastleigh into a vibrant second Business District which attracts shoppers from across the continent. Provoking these wealth creators for Kenya will only weaken their economy. The Somali business community must know that they are victims of a desperate Kenya which has been caught in the act of trying to steal Somalia’s maritime space. Somalia will never accept this and nor will the International Court of Justice.
The safest place for Somalis to live and invest is their motherland. Why waste valuable resources and jobs in a country which seeks to humiliate the Somali people? Somalis in Kenya come back home because you don’t need Kenya. Use your wealth and skills to rebuild Somalia, where you belong.
Kenya has been transgressing into Somali territory near its border with impunity. They have been dividing communities and working hard to create disharmony between Somalia and its federal member states. This has worked because Somalis have not seen Kenya for the enemy it is fast becoming. The Somali people have honoured Kenya. However, if Kenya insist on continuing to humiliate Somalis in the hope of frightening the government in to giving up its maritime territory, they do not know Somalis at all.