Garissa Immigration offices closed despite Kenya's re-opening pledges

GARISSA, Kenya - The Immigration Department of Kenya is yet to re-open Garissa offices several months after Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki promised to have it opened, a strategic move meant to facilitate trade and movement of people between Kenya and Somalia.

In July, Kindiki, who visited the region, said the offices were to be reopened, but six months later, the office remains closed. The private building that had been rented by the government is now a shell of its former self, NTV reports.

The office was shut down in 2014 following a series of attacks by the Al-Shabaab in the country. The state of insecurity tipped Maj-Gen (Rtd) Gordon Kihalangwa, the former immigration boss, to order the closure.

At that time, the order affected over 500 pilgrims who were registering to fly to Mecca, Saudi Arabia along with almost 300 soldiers from Kenya and Sierra Leone who were supposed to travel to Somalia. The Horn of Africa nation has been fighting Al-Shabaab for the last 16 years.

Maj-Gen (Rtd) Kihalangwa’s memo announcing the closure on September 11, 2014, said the decision was necessary to allow his department time to review its procedures to seal the operational loopholes that had allowed aliens to access crucial immigration documents.

“Considering the prevailing insecurity, this practice (decentralization) does not work in the national interest. Devolution is good but we cannot devolve security, which remains the domain of the national government,” he said then.

However, according to Prof Kindiki, the reopening of the Garissa Immigration offices was part of the Kenya Kwanza administration’s efforts to enhance equal access to quality immigration services. The government was also keen to facilitate ties between Nairobi and Mogadishu.

“We used to have an immigration office here which was closed. I want to announce that we shall open a new office to issue passports here in Garissa starting July 1, 2023,” he said.

Residents of Northeastern Kenya have expressed dissatisfaction with the government, insisting that they are being discriminated against on matters of service delivery despite being citizens of the country. For them to get services, they say, they are forced to travel to Nairobi.

“I don’t trust this government any given its empty promises every day,” Hussein Olow, a resident said. “It is expensive to travel to Nairobi to get travel documents because you must budget more on accommodation in the city,” he said.

Halima Osman wondered why the government was so prompt in reopening immigration offices in Embu, Nakuru, and Kisumu despite the fact that they were closed at the same time as Garissa.

When reached for comment, North Eastern Regional Coordinator John Otieno said renovations were underway ahead of the office's re-opening.

The government of Kenya has renewed operations in the northeastern region after a brief resurgence of Al-Shabaab militants but the group seems to have retreated. In Somalia, security teams have also intensified operations against the militants.

GAROWE ONLINE