Eight Kenyan MPs to be Arrested for Travelling to Somalia Without Authorization

In Kenya, eight Members of Parliament from Wajir and Mandera counties are expected to be arrested once they disembark at Wilson Airport on Sunday afternoon.

The eight had flown to Somalia on an unclear mission in the wake of tension between Jubaland and Somali National Army troops near the Mandera border.

They left the country on Saturday at 11am on board Salaam Air Express flight WU-751 to Mogadishu.

The MPs were required to get authorization from the Speaker of the National Assembly or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An elite team of police officers is already at Wilson Airport and once their land the MPs will be subjected to a search to ascertain they did not carry any contraband into the country.

Last week Mandera East Member of Parliament Omar Maalim, in a private notice presented at the National Assembly, sought a clarification from the Ministry of Defence why the Somali State Minister Abdirashid Hassan Abdinur alias Abdirashid Janan was in his constituency.

The MP claimed the minister crossed into Kenya with more than 100 armed soldiers and has been in the northern border Mandera town, causing security tension since January.

The Somali State Minister escaped from a Mogadishu prison on January 28, 2020, after almost five months in incarceration following his arrest on August 31, 2019, and made his way to Mandera where he has been operating from.

The Mandera East MP said the minister and his troops are now settled at Border Point 1 area within his constituency.