Immigration boss scolds government officials for using foreign passports

Immigration Director Mohamed Koofi has admonished government officials for travelling on foreign passports yet they claim to champion the interests of Somalia in the global arena.

Koofi said it was ironical for senior government officials including ministers to be travelling abroad using other countries’ passports yet they represented Somalia in official capacity noting it was becoming difficult to convince the world the Somali passport is valid and must be recognised.

“There are government officials with different roles who hold foreign passports and who travel to the world claiming to be representing the interests of Somalia,” Koofi told the media Saturday. “This is not good at all, and it is not encouraging our efforts to restore the integrity of the Somali passport.”

Koofi noted foreign governments were finding it difficult to understand how Somali government could be seeking legitimacy of its passport yet the government officials on such missions had foreign passports in their pockets. “They wonder and think we are wasting their time because we don’t care about our own passport.”

Somali passport remains unrecognized in a number of countries including the US but the government has sought to convince world governments to recognise it as a valid travel document. More than 100 lawmakers in the current Parliament hold foreign passports in addition to President Mohamed Farmaajo, PM Hassan Khaire, and Lower House Speaker Mohamed Jawaari among several other senior officials.

Koofi said he has had to contend with questions from foreigners on why ministers do not use the Somali passport. “I have been frequently asked, if your passport is legitimate, then why do government officials and ministers not use it because we have seen many of them travelling with non-Somali passports?”

The immigration chief said the department had made remarkable steps to elevate the passport to globally accepted standards.