Deputy Governor denies he’s citizen of three states

Isiolo deputy governor Ibrahim Abdi Issa displays his certificate of inauguration at the Isiolo stadium, on August 23, 2017. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

A deputy governor who stirred controversy in Britain two years ago for allegedly issuing medical certificates to some undeserving taxi drivers has disowned reports of being a citizen of three countries.

Isiolo deputy governor, Abdi Ibrahim Issa came to limelight in October 2016, when a UK tabloid The Sun published an expose in which they implicated him for issuing certificates to drivers without their past medical history tests to determine their suitability.

At the time, the deputy governer was operating as Dr Abdi Greek in Hounslow and was a resident of Britain.

Yesterday, when the Sunday Standard asked him whether he was aware of the allegations, he confirmed that he was at the time working as a doctor in Britain but dismissed the report as unproved allegations of racists.

Allegedly busted

“I was serving the community there but I think the allegations were motivated by racism. They were not proven.” He was among three foreign-born doctors allegedly busted by The Sun on October 3, 2016 when they reportedly sent an undercover team who posed as a driver who secured a license without tests.

In the expose, the doctor was  filmed as he filed in the forms and asked for payment of 80 British pounds (about Sh9,500), without asking the fake driver about his past medical history or accessing his records.

Abdi, variously referred to as Greek is quoted in the story denying wrongdoing, arguing that he always checked his client’s medical history before he gave them certificates. In our interview, he explained that the family name was Greek and insisted that while in Britain he was a Kenyan citizen and has always remained.

He disowned a British passport purported to be his, which showed he was a British citizen and that he was born in Mogadishu on July 1 1966.

He challenged those claiming he was not Kenyan to prove, arguing that there was no law barring a Kenyan doctor to work in Britain without changing his citizenship.

The deputy governor further explained that allegations that he was not Kenyan had been triggered by his opponents during last year’s General Election. He explained that there was nothing wrong with his national Identity card that was issued on June 12 last year, which showed he was born on January 1 1962 in Samburu.

“I do not have any Somali connection. A Kenyan can stand for an elective post anywhere. There are no boundaries barring a person born in a certain county from being elected in another.”

He told those claiming that he was not a Kenyan to prove their case as precedence had been set in a previous case where Wajir South parliamentary aspirant Mohamud Muhumed Sirat was arrested and deported to Australia in 2008 over the status of his citizenship.

When he consequently challenged the legality of his deportation, the court agreed with him that he had a valid Kenyan passport and national identity card and dismissed arguments by his rival, Ali Hassan Abdirahman, that he was not a Kenyan citizen.