No harm in assimilating the Makonde into Kenya

Classifying people as ‘stateless’ in a country (state) where they have lived for decades is callous. This violates provisions of the Constitution explicitly outlining basic human and civil rights that everybody in Kenya must enjoy.

Our Constitution is anchored on bestowing dignity (at least in theory) to citizens irrespective of their station in life, which brings me to the plight of the Makonde community residing at the Coast.

Wikipedia defines a State as an organised community living under a single political structure and government, sovereign or constituent. This begs the question; are the Makonde people living in a utopian state far removed from the geographical location called Kenya?

Are they not part of the Kenyan fabric, especially when their rich culture has not only been an attraction for tourists but also been assimilated into the diverse Kenyan cultural fabric?

At the back of my mind, I have always known the Makonde to be part of pre and post-independent Kenya. Historical accounts pinpoint their origin to Mozambique, yet that confines itself to the period when man had abandoned the nomadic lifestyle which characterised earlier civilisations. If history is credible, African communities migrated from the north and settled in different areas on the continent depending on their needs.

The Makonde were brought to Kenya by colonialists in the 1950s to work in sisal fields at the Coast. Most likely, they did not come of their own volition, but after the struggle for independence, those who had settled at the Coast opted to stay behind and their offspring have known no other home but Kenya.

It is therefore easy to wonder why they are still ‘stateless’ and homeless 50 years after independence when, legally, anybody born in Kenya or who has lived here for more than seven years or is married to a Kenyan is entitled to Kenyan citizenship.

I am aware of the obstructive legal obfuscation that is a purely defensive,a self-preservation mechanism adopted by states to lock foreigners out of their defined territories, yet it contravenes the 1961 UNHCR convention calling on nations to make adjustments to their laws to deal with statelessness.

If people are stateless, it follows that they cannot be repatriated, leaving just one avenue open; assimilating them. Only eight years remain for UNHCR to realise its goal of ending statelessness by 2024.

These efforts will come a cropper if countries like Kenya procrastinate over such sensitive human rights issues. By relaxing its laws, for instance, Lithuania, despite the melee that followed the breakup of the USSR, has made positive giant strides in ending statelessness.

The Makonde would perhaps have benefited from the rare magnanimity of lawyers when they offered free legal services recently. But being far removed from major cities and constricted by the denial of vital documents, they missed out on a service that could have helped their quest for naturalisation.

The national Identity (ID) remains the single most important document that allows one access to everything with the Government stamp on it. It is dehumanising that the Makonde cannot even start small businesses that require licences. Their children cannot sit national exams because of lack of birth certificates. They cannot get passports or open bank accounts because an ID is a prerequisite, yet they are Kenyan in every respect. More Kenyan than some alien fugitives who have reportedly secured Kenyan identity papers.

From where I sit, the grand Makonde trek to State House, Nairobi, to demand recognition could have been forestalled. There exist legal mechanisms that could have been triggered to save the tortured souls the additional travails of a long march that could leave some of them, the elderly and sick, dead. Of course, the Government could have gained political mileage accruing from handling the Makonde issue, but it is blind to the reality. Leviticus 19; 34 says: ‘...the alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.'

This biblical verse challenges the Government and supports historical accounts showing we are all migrants from the North. The Government cannot therefore treat the Makonde as though they were extra-terrestrials yet have its top leaders religiously go to church to proclaim their Christian love for neighbours, the weak and the needy. There are lessons Christians derive from the bible that should act as their beacons.

Of late, there has been an increase in excursions to church by politicians. Besides offering them the platform to politic, the opportunity to shed a tear or two in religious fervour or for being overwhelmed by invisible burdens; besides getting that opportunity to showcase magnanimity by donating millions of shillings in aid, the Government should give the Makonde, Kenya’s 42nd tribe, IDs and get done with it.