Kenya sacks 15 immigration officers

The Kenyan government has fired 15 immigration officers following an audit of the Westgate Mall attack in September.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku told journalists Friday in Nairobi that the officers were implicated in the issuance of Kenyan identification documents to illegal immigrants, Xinhua reported.

"These officers will soon be arraigned in court," Lenku said. During the Sep 21 terror attack, the worst in over a decade, at least 67 people were killed by Al Shabaab fighters and 175 injured.

He said the purge will extend to many other government departments.

"We want to remove all those who may have been part of the network that is facilitating the issuance of Kenyan identification documents to illegal immigrants who turn out to be criminals," he said.

The government has redeployed experienced officers to the department of immigration to help streamline and reorganize the department.

"These officers will help to streamline and revamp the immigration department to avoid a recurrence of security lapses we have witnessed in the past," he said.

The cabinet secretary noted that the government was also seeking to amend the laws that govern the registration of persons.

"This will help to strengthen the identification process before one is given an identity card," he said.

There are close to 350,000 uncollected identity cards in registration centres across the country.

"I have given instructions that if cards are not collected within three months, they be destroyed," the official told journalists.