Mr. President,
Your recent public statements questioning the Somali identity of diaspora citizens – including your contemptuous phrase “Yaa tahay? / Who are you?” – are not only offensive but unconstitutional. The Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia is explicit:
o Article 4(1) – “After Allah the Almighty, all sovereignty belongs to the people of Somalia and can only be exercised in accordance with the Constitution and the law.” You do not own Somali citizenship, Mr. President; it belongs to the people.
o Article 8(1) – “The people of the Federal Republic of Somalia are one, indivisible people, and they are bound together by the common destiny of Somali citizenship.”
o Article 8(2) – “Every Somali citizen shall have equal rights and duties before the law.”
o Article 8(3) – “Somali citizenship cannot be revoked from a Somali citizen, even if they become a citizen of another country.”
This means: every Somali, including those with dual nationality, is a Somali citizen with full and equal rights. No president, no minister, no agency can erase or downgrade that citizenship.
Yet, while you ridicule Somali diaspora who carry dual nationality, your administration has been openly engaged in the sale of Somali national identity to foreigners with no Somali blood or ancestral ties. Evidence shows Somali passports and national ID cards are being sold to non-Somalis at prices ranging from $9,000 to $20,000. This is the most grotesque form of corruption: trafficking in the very identity of the Somali nation.
The hypocrisy does not end there. You boast that the new E-Visa system is a success story of your administration. In truth, it is another fraud. Instead of being a transparent state service, it has become a predatory tax on the Somali diaspora. Every Somali entering the country with a foreign passport is forced to pay $65 – money which does not flow to the Somali treasury, but instead goes to a private company called Galaxy, secretly owned by the so-called Yahye Ali Ibrahim – Institutional Development and Migration Governance “Senior Advisor” (the de facto Director General of Immigration & Citizenship), along with your own blood relatives. Galaxy is registered in Nairobi, Kenya, and its bank accounts are in Nairobi as well.
If this were a genuine E-Visa system, all revenue would be deposited into Somalia’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) as required by law. The Public Finance Management Act, 2019 (Articles 11, 12, and 17) mandates that all government revenues must be collected transparently and deposited into the TSA at the Central Bank of Somalia. By law, these funds should be reflected in the 2026 national budget of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Instead, they are siphoned into offshore accounts in Kenya – in blatant violation of both constitutional and financial law.
The contradiction is staggering:
o Somali diaspora with blood, heritage, and constitutional rights are insulted, extorted, and questioned.
o Foreigners, with no legal claim, are granted Somali citizenship through cash transactions.
o E-Visa funds are looted through a Kenyan shell company instead of supporting Somalia’s fragile budget.
This practice violates every cornerstone of Somali law:
o The Constitution (Article 8) – which guarantees Somali nationality to all Somalis, including dual nationals.
o The Somali Citizenship Law (Law No. 28 of 1962, Articles 2 and 3) – which defines Somali nationality strictly by blood (jus sanguinis).
o The Provisional Constitution (Article 43) – which prohibits the illegal privatization of state resources.
o The Public Finance Management Act, 2019 – which requires all state revenues to pass through the TSA, not private offshore accounts.
o International Law (ICCPR, Article 12; UDHR, Article 15) – which forbids arbitrary discrimination against citizens or denial of nationality.
Mr. President, this is not leadership. This is state capture for personal enrichment. Instead of strengthening the bond with the diaspora who have sacrificed for Somalia through remittances, advocacy, and development, your administration is busy monetizing identity documents and laundering E-Visa revenues through Nairobi shell companies.
Your presidency has seven months remaining. Every action you now take is judged by history and by the law. Selling Somali citizenship to foreigners while humiliating the Somali diaspora, and stealing state revenue through offshore accounts, is a betrayal of your oath of office under Article 90 of the Constitution. You will be held accountable, both politically and legally, for this unprecedented corruption and constitutional vandalism.
The Somali people deserve clarity and justice:
o Why are foreigners being issued Somali passports and IDs while Somali diaspora is insulted as “not Somali” unless they pay?
o Why are diaspora Somalis forced to pay $65 to a Kenyan shell company for an E-Visa, instead of their money supporting Somalia’s treasury?
o Where are the millions of dollars collected under your so-called E-Visa program being deposited?
o Under what law, decree, or constitutional authority, are you trading the national identity of Somalia?
Mr. President, no one is above the law – not even the occupant of Villa Somalia. The Somali people, inside and outside the country, will not allow their citizenship to be demeaned, their rights denied, or their identity sold off to the highest bidder.
History will remember you not as a unifier of Somalia, but as the president who mocked his own diaspora while selling passports to foreigners and laundering visa revenues through foreign banks.
Respectfully but without diplomatic pretense,