Sunday October 17, 2021
Abdikadir Aden - FILE
Nairobi (HOL) - A Member of Parliament (MP) in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has raised concerns after several Kenyan students of Somali origin were barred from entering Tanzania from Kenya.
Abdikadir Aden accused Tanzanian immigration officials based at the Namanga border of discriminating against the students because they are of Somali origin.
The Somali-Kenyans are student leaders headed to Arusha, Tanzania, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Executive officials of the East African Students Union (EASU).
“Kenyans of Somali Origin experience discrimination crossing the border at Namanga. Student leaders headed to Arusha for the EASU function excluded from their Colleagues and held for hours. Just because they are ethnic Somali,” he said.
According to the MP, who also served as Balambala MP in Garissa County from 2013 to 2017, he once suffered the same way in 2018 when he was asked to stand aside for hours before he was denied entry to Tanzania for no apparent reason.
He said that the Tanzanian Migration officials even went ahead to demand cash from him to be allowed to proceed with his journey.
The MP said that he would take up the matter with his EALA colleagues to address the problem once and for all to avoid a similar incident.
“The incident reminds me sometimes back in 2018 when I was heading to Arusha; I was ordered to stand aside for hours and later denied entry to Tanzania with no apparent reason. The Tanzania immigration demanded Sh10,000 to allow me to proceed with the journey,” he said, adding that it took the intervention of Kenyan immigration officials to have him allowed to go on with his journey.
During the swearing-in of new leaders, Nimo Abdikadir, a Kenyan, took up office as the Vice President of the region’s university students’ union.
The EALA MP who attended the function congratulated Abdikadir for the new role that she has assumed in the region.
“Attended the swearing-in ceremony of the Executive officials of the East African Students Union at the East Africa Community Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. Our Kenyan Nimo Sh. Abdikadir was sworn in as the Vice President of the EASU, congratulations madam president,” he said.