Kenya: How statelessness condemned the Shona to poverty

Published: 13/Jan/2021
Source: Business Daily (Nairobi)

By KEVIN ROTICH

For decades, the Shona community endured socio-economic challenges before President Uhuru Kenyatta recognised them as a Kenyan tribe on December 12, 2020.

This can be traced to between the 1950s and 1960s when their ancestors first came into the country from modern day Zimbabwe and Zambia.

In the formative years, the government registered them under the Alien Restriction Act. Upon changes to the Registration of Persons Act of 1978, registrations of stateless persons seized.

Lack of registrations meant that they could not be recognized as Kenyan citizens’ thus locked out from the job market as well as education.

Read further: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/data-hub/how-statelessness-shona-to-poverty-3255170

Themes: Acquisition by children, Naturalisation and Marriage, Statelessness
Regions: Kenya
Year: 2021