Canadian officials in Kenya confiscated the passport of Suaad Hagi Mohamud and concluded she was an impostor. (CBC)

The federal government will investigate why a Toronto woman ended up stranded in Kenya for nearly three months over false claims that she was an impostor, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised Thursday.

"Our first priority as a government is, obviously, to see her get on a flight back to Canada," Harper said at a news conference in Kitchener, Ont., after weeks of silence about the case.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan has asked for a "full accounting" of how the Canada Border Services Agency handled the case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud and will review its actions, he said.

"I think our officials and agencies are working hard to resolve what is not an easy case," Harper added.

He declined to speak about the specifics of the case but acknowledged there were problems.

"My understanding is there were a lot of complications in this case, some of which you're aware of in the media," he said.

Suaad Hagi Mohamud as she appears in her Canadian passport photo. (CBC)

Foreign Affairs was also involved in Mohamud's case, but Harper did not say whether the minister in charge, Lawrence Cannon, would also look into how the matter was handled.

Harper was responding to accusations by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and others that the federal government had failed to "stand up" for Canadians by abandoning the 31-year-old woman.

Mohamud, who was born in Somalia, was unable to leave Kenya after authorities said her lips did not look like they did in her four-year-old passport photo.

Canadian consular officials called her an impostor, voided her passport and urged Kenyan officials to lay charges against her.

Officials maintained that she was not who she claimed to be, even after Mohamud handed over numerous pieces of identification, offered fingerprints and finally demanded that her DNA be tested.

Mohamud welcomes Harper's words

It wasn't until the genetic tests confirmed her identity Monday that Canadian officials began preparing emergency travel documents that would permit her to return to Toronto and reunite with her 12-year-old son.

From her hotel room in Nairobi, Mohamud called Harper's words "good news."

"I'm really happy to go back," she said.

Mohamud said she's been told her plane is supposed to leave at about 10 p.m. Friday and expects to get further information earlier in the day.

Mohamud's Canadian lawyer, Raoul Boulakia, said politicians are entitled to their comments, but they've come a little late.

"The really important time to stick up for her was in May, June and July," he said. "Sticking up for her after we've got the DNA test back is a safe battle to pick."

Boulakia also said he's frustrated he hasn't yet been given specific flight details.

"They're not willing to tell me whether they've actually reserved a flight for her," he said Thursday.

"I'm not likely to find out until tomorrow, but I hope they do get her on a flight tomorrow night — that would be what we've asked for."

Outstanding charges delaying return

There are still outstanding charges that are preventing Mohamud from leaving Kenya, including using another person's passport and being in Kenya illegally. Canada has asked Kenyan authorities to drop the charges.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs, Emma Welford, said travel arrangements cannot be finalized until the Kenyan court decides on the motion to drop the charges.

If the charges are dropped, a one-way travel document will be issued and Mohamud will be able to return home, according to Foreign Affairs officials.

Mohamud was visiting her ailing mother in Kenya and was about to fly back to Canada in May when officials stopped her in the Nairobi airport, claiming she was not the same person pictured in her passport.

After her case was handed over to Kenyan authorities, Mohamud spent eight days in jail before being released on bail without travel documents.

Results of a DNA test released Monday — one that compared Mohamud's genetic makeup with that of her son and ex-husband — showed a 99.9 per cent match between the mother and son. Canada footed the $800 bill for the genetic testing.