Kenya’s stateless Tanzanian widows: Their children are Kenyan, husbands were Kenyan, but they are nobody

By Moraa Obiria

Tanzanian widows who married Kenyan men decades ago find themselves trapped in a cruel legal limbo, unable to obtain ID cards that would grant them basic rights despite having Kenyan children.
Without documentation, they can’t claim their deceased husbands’ pensions, access social services, own property, or even open bank accounts – forcing many into extreme poverty.
While their children are recognised as Kenyan citizens, these mothers remain invisible to the system, caught between Tanzania’s prohibition of dual citizenship and Kenya’s complex registration requirements.