Kwale: Joy And Happiness As Stateless Pemba Community Set To Receive Identity Cards

• In 2020, the National Assembly passed recommendations considering a petition to have the Pemba recognised as citizens of Kenya
• President William Ruto announced that his administration will initiate modalities to recognise the Pemba people as citizens of Kenya
• Over 9000 Pemba people will be issued with vital documents following Kenya’s decision to end statelessness for the coastal community
• Pemba Community organising secretary Mwalimu Ali Mkasha said they were looking forward to what he termed as their big day

Kilifi - Karisa Maitha Grounds in Kilifi grounds is expected to roar to life this week when members of the Pemba community line up to receive their identification documents including birth certificates and identity cards.

On Friday, July 28, over 9000 people who were vetted and registered will be issued with vital documents following Kenya’s decision to end statelessness for the Pemba people.

During Kenya's 59th Jamhuri Day national celebrations on 12 December 2022, President William Ruto announced that his ruling Kenya Kwanza administration will initiate modalities to recognise the Pemba people as citizens of Kenya.

“Once again, Kenya has demonstrated leadership to end statelessness around the world. This decision will ensure that the Pemba people will get access to the rights they deserve. United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) stands ready to support the process,” said Caroline van Buren, UNHCR’s Representative to Kenya.

Pemba people's new beginning

Speaking exclusively to TUKO.co.ke, Pemba Community organising secretary Mwalimu Ali Mkasha said they were looking forward to what he termed as their big day.

"Ruto promised that his government was going recognise us as a Kenyan ethnic group. True to his word, we are now going to be issued with the relevant identification by the constitution identification documents that include birth certificates, IDs, and even passports. It has been a long journey but we are grateful to this far," Mwalimu said.

Pemba is now identified as part of the 16 dialects of the Swahili of Kenya.

According to Mwalimu, the registration and issuance of individual citizenship documentation will enable the Pemba to fully contribute to Kenyan society and access their fundamental human rights on par with other nationals.

This includes access to education, health care, social protection, financial services, and the formal labour market.

Official recognition of the Pemba as Kenyans

In 2020, the National Assembly passed recommendations considering a petition to have the Pemba recognised as citizens of Kenya.

According to Mwalimu, Pemba people are also found in Mozambique, Madagascar, and Tanzania. 

The official recognition of the Pemba as Kenyans ends tribulations for more than 100,000 residents of Kilifi, Kwale, and Mombasa who moved into Kenya from Tanzania and are now set to start accessing public facilities and services.

How the Pemba have faced widespread discrimination

Mwalimu who spoke to TUKO.co.ke after gracing a two-day media workshop on Citizenship and Digital Identity organised by NAMATI Kenya in Nairobi further said that as a community, they have faced widespread discrimination.

Pemba is a community that predominantly depends on fishing, as the main source of livelihood, Mwalimu said many of them were arrested in the Indian Ocean since authorities considered them foreigners.

"On some occasions, some fishermen have been harassed. Their fish were taken were away. Also, our homes have been destroyed by the police. Our fishing boats destroyed but now this is going to be something of the past," Mwalimu added. 

According to UNHCR, stateless people are not recognised as citizens by any country, including the country they may have called home for generations.

They often fall outside the formal legal system, perhaps because of discrimination in national legislation or because their community was excluded from citizenship when a country first became independent.

Yet the right to a nationality is a basic human right, firmly established within international law.

In a related story, TUKO.co.ke reported that Ruto gazetted the recognition of the Pemba community as the 45th tribe in Kenya and invited them to participate in the political, economic, cultural, and social development of the nation.

Pemba people locked out of national development

The presidential proclamation is contained in the special gazette issue of Monday, January 30, 2023.

Previously, the National Assembly considered public petition No. 41 of 2020 dated November 19, 2020, regarding the recognition of the Pemba people of Kenya as citizens of the Republic of Kenya.

Ruto observed that the failure to recognise the Pemba community as citizens of Kenya continues to cause disenfranchisement and exclusion of the community from national development.

He also noted that the Constitution of Kenya affirms the national pride in ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity as being the bedrock of unity as a sovereign nation.

Articles 11 and 44 of the Constitution of Kenya enshrine the duty of the government to promote and protect the diverse cultural heritage of Kenya.