Kenya’s Nubian people still struggling for official recognition

Published: 5/Feb/2022
Source: RFI

by: Victor Moturi

Kenyans from the Nubian community continue to live on the margins of society, blocked from acquiring national identity cards and other vital documents necessary to work officially, go to school and even vote.

“Our community does not put money in commercial banks because of a lack of identification cards. Personally, I don’t even have a bank account,” 23 year-old footballer Ashiff Obwaka explains, adding that he does not have a birth certificate or an identification card.

If he or a family member gets sick, they organise fundraisers to pay hospital bills, because they cannot access Kenya’s national health insurance.

He is a member of Kenya’s 100,000-strong Nubian community, whose ancestors were forcibly brought from Sudan in 1900 by the British army to help them secure Kenya.

Read further: https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20220205-kenya-s-nubian-people-struggling-for-official-recognition-africa-calling-podcast

Themes: Discrimination, Ethnic/Racial/Religious, Birth Registration, ID Documents and Passports
Regions: Kenya
Year: 2022