Stateless Makonde in four-day march to State House to meet Uhuru in search of citizenship

What you need to know:

  • On Monday they started a four-day journey to State House, Nairobi, hoping to meet President Kenyatta in their quest for Kenyan citizenship.
  • Mr Marwa and security agencies intercepted them at Kombani, Maganyakulo and Ng’ombeni on the Lunga Lunga-Mombasa road.
  • The group spent Monday night in Tudor, Mombasa, and started the second day of their journey to Nairobi early Tuesday.
  • They will spend Tuesday night in Voi, Taita-Taveta County, and arrive in Mlolongo, Machakos County, on Wednesday before finally reaching Nairobi on Thursday.

More than 300 stateless members of the Makonde community living in Kwale County and whose origin is Mozambique, on Monday started a four-day journey to State House, Nairobi, hoping to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta in their quest for Kenyan citizenship.

Dubbed “Trekking against Statelessness,’’ the procession, which also includes communities from Pemba Island, Burundi and Rwanda who say they came to Kenya in 1967, started their journey in Makongeni, Ukunda.

Supported by human rights activists, led by Kenya Human Rights Commission executive director George Kegoro, the group said they represented 10,000 stateless people in the county.

However, their journey, which involves walking and riding on 10 buses, was halted for hours as they were intercepted by Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa and a contingent of police officers.

Mr Marwa’s team of administrators and security agencies stopped them at Kombani, Maganyakulo and Ng’ombeni on the Lunga Lunga-Mombasa road.

When he got wind of the procession to Nairobi, Mr Marwa went to Kwale in the early morning for consultations with the county security team.

IMPATIENT

Their meeting, however, took too long, according to the group, which became openly impatient.

They started walking away from the Kombani junction, with two police vehicles leading them and clearing the road.

However, upon reaching Maganyakulo, they were intercepted by senior police officers and ordered to wait for Mr Marwa, who arrived an hour later.

However, some had already left in eight buses but they were followed and again intercepted and driven back to Ngombeni chief’s camp.

About four of the buses had reached Shika Adabu in Mombasa County and were ordered back.

Saying he was delivering the government’s position on the matter, after speaking to Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery, Mr Marwa urged them to be patient as their matter was being addressed.

“As you are aware, your registration involves two countries and must be anchored in the law, not through the back door so that if one country complains, the process can be dealt with legally,” he said.

MOU DRAFTED

He told them that a memorandum of understanding had been drafted and would be presented to the Cabinet next week to be ratified.

He insisted that the government was ready to solve the issue conclusively.

“You must also know that the issue does not involve the Makonde community alone but there are several others who want to be registered. Even if you insist and go to Nairobi, this is the same message that you will be given,’’ Mr Marwa told the group.

He said that in three years, the government will have completed the process of registering all communities who have lived in Kenya for decades.

Mr Marwa warned the community against “being misused’’ by civil society groups “which are pouring money around.”

He challenged Mr Kegoro and Hassan Abdile, the executive director of Muslims for Human Rights, to say where they got the money from “to hire all these buses, feed such a huge number of people and sponsor the trip to Nairobi.”

But Mr Kegoro said the idea of the trip was the community’s initiative after seeing the government was not addressing the issue conclusively.

The group’s chairman, Thomas Nguli, said they had embarked on the journey to State House because no solution to their case was forthcoming.

THANKED GOVERNOR MVURYA

“We thank the Kwale County Governor Salim Mvurya for his constant efforts to have us registered but the national government is drugging its feet.

“We have, therefore, decided to go and see President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi to tell him to help us,” he said.

He said that because members of their community had national IDs, they had been denied basic services such as mosquito nets, crop seeds, jobs, education and participation in development, and were constantly being harassed by security agencies.

While flagging off their procession, Mr Kegoro said the stateless people had a right to get Kenyan citizenship since they did not have another place to call home.

There have been efforts to have the communities recognised as Kenyans, with the Kwale County Assembly having passed a motion urging the national government to give the Makonde Kenyan citizenship.

The group spent Monday night in Tudor, Mombasa, and started the second day of their journey to Nairobi early Tuesday.

They are expected to spend Tuesday night in Voi, Taita-Taveta County, and arrive in Mlolongo, Machakos County, on Wednesday before finally reaching Nairobi on Thursday.