Fifteen immigration officers and two soldiers have so far been sacked in the wake of the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi last month.
The immigration officials were dismissed by Kenya’s interior minister, Joseph Ole Lenku for what he described as endangering national security by issuing identity documentation to illegal immigrants. The minister said the government would also be carrying out a thorough audit of identity cards and passports issued in the country over the last two years and would begin the process of repatriating Somali refugees to prevent further attacks.
“This exercise will enable us flush out all those who have been issued with illegal passports and other identification documents,” Kenya’s Star newspaper quoted him as saying.
“We have welcomed with open arms, refugees fleeing from insecurity in neighbouring countries but we won’t allow them to harm us,” he added in his address to journalists in Nairobi, adding: “Because of the returning calm in some parts of the Federal Republic of Somali, the process of repatriating Somali refugees has started.”
Kenya is host to the largest refugee camp in the world. Dadaab near the Somali border is home to about half a million people. Away from the camp, it is believed that Nairobi is itself home to 30,000 Somali refugees.
Meanwhile, two soldiers have been sacked and jailed and a third is under investigation for looting stores both during the four-day siege and in its aftermath. Army chief Julius Karangi had previously said that soldiers had only taken water, despite CCTV footage that appeared to show them helping themselves to goods in a supermarket.
At least 67 people, including six Britons, were killed during the attack by Somali Islamist group al-Shabab. It is thought four attackers were also killed, while Kenyan authorities continue to hold five people suspected of being involved in an ongoing investigation.
