Recognition turns to registration – how the Shona Community won the right to Kenyan citizenship

I previously wrote about two marginalised communities in Kenya, the Nubian and the Somali communities, and their struggle to obtain legal status and citizenship. Both communities face burdens not imposed on most other Kenyans. But they are not alone in campaigning for recognition as citizens of Kenya.  In this blog I reflect on the recent progress made by the Shona Community of Kenya to secure that recognition.

 

The Shona Community in Kenya

The Shona community have their origins in Zimbabwe and Zambia.  Today they number around 4000. In Zimbabwe they make up a large part of the population, although Shona can also be found in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique ¹.  Members of the Shona community arrived in Kenya the 1930s, with more moving as missionaries in the 1960s.  At the time, both Zimbabwe and Kenya were still British Colonies and movement between the two was relatively unhindered.

On Kenyan independence in 1963, the missionaries stayed, but were not recognised as legally settled in Kenya.  Most missed a two-year window to apply for Kenyan citizenship.  Nor were their Kenyan born children registered at birth, or given Kenyan citizenship.  The children and grandchildren of the original settlers do not have links with Zimbabwe. They are stateless.

 

The challenges for the Shona community

As a stateless community, the Shona face many of the problems encountered by other stateless communities both in Kenya and globally.  I have written about the Sarawak in Malaysia (here and here), stateless children in Thailand and the Bidoon in Kuwait.  Access to education, health care and work are just some of the many rights and benefits that are denied to stateless people like the Shona.

The Kenyan government sought to grant increased access to basic rights and services by enabling community members to sign up under a special stateless category to the newly rolled out National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS).  NIIMS captures key identifying details such as a person’s nationality, place of birth, marital status, education and acts as a register of births and deaths.  On registration, each Kenyan national or resident is issued with a unique identifier, known as the ‘Huduma Namba’.  For more on civil registration in Kenya, see my previous blog on the NIIMS system and the Huduma Namba.

 

Recent events

In 2019 the Kenyan government agreed to issue birth certificates to members of the Shona Community ².  In Kenya, birth certificates are an important supporting document for a citizenship application ³.  This was a key first step.  However, community members were not, at that stage, issued with an identity card, the next vital step towards the Shona securing individual legal identity and citizenship.

Other than obtaining a passport, the identity card is the key document evidencing Kenyan citizenship and belonging.  More recently, in December 2020, the Shona were recognised as Kenya’s 46th tribe, paving the way for members of the community to apply for Kenyan citizenship.  Finally, in July 2021, the efforts of the community to be recognised as Kenyan citizens began to pay off.  Over 1,500 members of the community were issued with Kenyan identity cards and citizenship certificates ⁴.

 

Kenya’s other marginalised communities

Kenya is home to more than 18,000 stateless people, spread across different communities, including the Nubian community, the Somali community of Kenya, the Pemba, and, until now, the Shona ⁵.  Like the Shona, generations have been born and lived in Kenya, knowing no other home.   Members of the those communities remain marginalised and excluded as they are not registered as Kenyan citizens.  The case for Kenyan citizenship ought to be easier with each new generation, but, if anything, it looks like recognition is becoming more difficult.

One reason for this is that civil registration systems and biometric IDs have become more prevalent over the last few years.  Civil registration systems are not limited to national level initiatives, like the NIIMS.  They are also used by multilateral organisations.  UNHCR for example, has increasingly used biometric systems to register, track and provide services to refugees ⁶.

For the Somali Kenyans living near the Daadab camp in Northern Kenya, the prevalence of national and context specific civil registration systems has, in fact, contributed to their increased marginalisation.  Daadab is home to thousands of refugees (and their children) from Somalia’s 1990 civil war.  Many Somali Kenyans sought access, first, to the food and aid provided in the refugee camps.  As legal identity became important for receiving those services, and as UNHCR began to provide identity papers to the refugees, they themselves registered as residents of the camp.  A legal identity, even one marking them out as a refugee, allowed members of the Somali Kenyan community access not only to the services in the camp.  It can also provide access to basic services from Kenya’s public and private sectors ⁷.  The problem is that as the Somali Kenyan community lobbies for Kenyan citizenship, those with a refugee ID are being refused, effectively rendering them stateless.

 

Recognition means citizenship

It is hoped that the hard-won rights gained by the Shona community will begin to pave the way for a more inclusive approach to all of Kenya’s minority communities, and even to Kenyan citizenship.  Already we can see what a difference recognition has made for the Shona community.  Many are now finding that come next year’s elections, their voice will not only be heard, but will finally count ⁸.

Progress is slow, however.  Success seems to depend on each community consistently and persistently making the case for their inclusion.  Years of marginalisation and the consequences of that marginalisation need to be unpicked.  New measures, like the NIIMS, or UNHCR’s initiative to register refugees, must not be used as an excuse to continue that marginalisation.  Nor should Kenya’s marginalised communities be satisfied with half-measures falling short of full recognition and citizenship.