Sheikh Khalid Balala was deported four times by retired president Daniel Moi's government to Germany in the final decade of the 1900s.
The Islamic preacher recently opened up to the Standard, narrating how the state viewed him as an enemy and denied him entry into the country numerous times.
"I was deported to Germany four times. I was stateless for two years after the government revoked my citizenship.
“I was ejected once at Moi Airport, twice at Nairobi’s JKIA and once when I tried to come in through Dar es Salaam airport,” he was quoted by the newspaper.
[caption caption="File image of JKIA"]
[/caption]
Sheikh Balala (60) elucidated that his predicament began in 1991 when he co-founded the Islamic Party (IPK) - an outfit that was behind an uprising against the KANU government in the coastal region.
The Muslim leader was arrested and charged in Voi with treason for allegedly imagining the president's death. A charge he was later acquitted for two years later due to lack of evidence.
“It was a trumped-up charge to keep me in jail until the 1992 elections were over. After my acquittal I went home and found my house was broken into and passport stolen,” Balala stated.
This led him to apply for a temporary passport to enable him to fly to attend a youth and democracy conference in London. He thereafter traveled to Germany.
“In Germany, I met a Kenyan immigration official who advised me to visit our embassy in Frankfurt to renew the passport as it was about to expire.
“On December 9, 1994, I went to the embassy to renew the passport. I handed it to a Mr Mudavadi who kissed it and disappeared,” he stated.
Despite the setback, the Sheikh did not relent from acquiring a passport as he applied for a new one - which was dramatically withdrawn the same day it was issued.
“In 1997, I applied for the passport. I collected it from the tenth floor at Nyayo House only for it to be taken away by an armed police officer on the first floor,” he conveyed.
[caption caption="File image of Nyayo House"]
[/caption]
Balala maintains that the government has denied issuing him a passport to date.
