Top Kenya government official blocked in South Africa

A senior official at Parliamentary Service Commission was detained in South Africa airport over a mismatch in his travel documents.

Officials at Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg confiscated the documents of Dr Abdullahi Ali because data in one of the documents did not match that on the passport.

Pleas from PSC Vice Chairman Beth Mugo and interventions from Kenyan High Commissioner in South Africa Jean Kamau were ignored.

Commissioner Ali, who was part of a Kenyan delegation visiting the South African Parliament, was put on the next flight back to Nairobi.

"The government of South Africa gave him an entry visa in Nairobi based on the same set of documents and the passport. If there was a problem with the documents, he wouldn't have been given a visa," said a Kenyan in South Africa familiar with the exchange.

Mrs. Mugo said the incident was likely to undermine the relations between Kenya and South Africa.