Recent news on issues of
citizenship, statelessness and marginalization have featured Nubian, Makonde,
Shona, Somali and Arab communities in Kenya. These are groups with historical
or ethnic ties to other countries who have either been rendered stateless or
are in danger of becoming stateless.
International
treaties proclaim citizenship as a basic right, though we have 10 million stateless
people globally. The fact that they are not recognized by any state as citizens
exposes them to many challenges ranging from denial of basic rights and access
to employment, housing, education, and healthcare.
It is possible that they are also
not able to own property, open bank accounts, get married legally or register
their children after birth. Some could even face detention because they cannot
prove who they are.
The exact number of stateless people
in Kenya is not known and was unfortunately not recorded in the last census. It
is rather roughly estimated that there are 100,000 of them from Sudan, Rwanda,
Burundi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Somalia and Asia.
These have either not been able to
access legal documentation or are finding it difficult to proof their Kenyan
nationality in vetting processes. Most of them were brought in Kenya as workers
during the colonial era but did not return home after independence and were
never granted citizenship by Kenya.
The Nubian Community originally from
Sudan with a current population of about 100,000 people has been in Kenya since
1900. Some of them have consistently claimed to experience bottlenecks in
registration or obtaining national identification documents. The Shona from
Zimbabwe face the same dilemma.
Interestingly, we have some Kenyan
citizens who might be at risk of being rendered stateless. Kenyan Somalis who
in the past registered themselves as refugees from Somalia despite having
Kenyan citizenship belong to this category.
The rights of stateless people in
Kenya may not have been fully provided in the past legal regimes but with the new
constitution promulgated in 2010, there shouldn’t be any impediment for their
enjoyment of these rights.
Considering that some of these
communities have lived in Kenya for over sixty years, it is their constitutional
right that they be registered as Kenyan citizens despite their origins. Article
15 of the Citizens and
Immigration Act, 2011 indicates that, a
stateless person who has lived in Kenya for a continuous period since 12th
December, 1963, shall be deemed to have been lawfully resident and may apply to
be registered as a citizen. It further outlines citizenship rights for
descendants of stateless people.
Though this law limits the number of years
within which applications for citizenship are to be made (five years from the
commencement of the Act), it does give a legal room for stateless people to
claim citizenship. In fact, its sections are largely complementary to the 1954 UN Convention relating to the status of statelessness
and the 1961 Convention on the reduction of Statelessness.
The challenge however remains the efficiency in
its implementation and the public perception on how it is administered. Members
from the stateless communities have continually shown concern over the
government’s use of both ethnicity and territory
to establish claims for belonging in Kenya. Their claims are still contested
and as a result, their registration has not ceased to be slow.
The government must however be
praised for its recent move to naturalize some 3000 members from the ethnic
Pemba and Makonde communities in Kwale County. These two trace their origins to
Zanzibar and Mozambique respectively. Their naturalization followed a
presidential directive after the Kwale County Assembly petitioned President Uhuru
Kenyatta to grant them citizenship.
However, handling the challenge of
statelessness efficiently will require the exact number of stateless people in
Kenya to be established. It will even be more efficient if it can be administered
through a comprehensive strategy and a detailed policy framework with clear
registration procedures and timelines.
This task can be taken up by a
dedicated government led task force or committee which will also undertake
public awareness campaigns on the procedures and timelines for registration of
affected people.
Strategic communication on all
matters pertaining the Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 will shift public
perception and guarantee non-discriminatory procedures for registration of
stateless persons.
With its precision in mandate and
inclusiveness of all stakeholders, the task force will perhaps be more equipped
to handle claims that go beyond the Kenyan boarders than a departmental unit
within government would do.
UNHCR which is global leader for
promoting identification, protection, prevention and reduction of statelessness
will certainly play a critical role in the task force.
The ultimate goal for this should be
to end statelessness in Kenya not only to ease life for affected communities but
also to promote development. This is in the interest of Kenya in its journey
towards realizing Vision 2030.
Twitter: @Duke_Mwancha
