Kenyan Nubians: The forgotten people

About 100,000 Nubians live in Kenya. Brought by British colonialists to the area as soldiers from different parts of Sudan, the Nubian community in Kenya now has a shared ethnic identity. While the group retains no ties to Sudan, Kenya has historically refused to recognise this minority.

After Kenyan independence, the Nubian community was denied recognition by the state. Although given a place to stay by the British as a thank you for the work well done by the community, this slowly turned into a curse in disguise. This is because Kibra was next to the capital and hence a lot of other people flooded into this area, in search of greener pastures. At first it was ok since to our great grandfathers it was a way in which they gained their bread. Most of them became landlords.

Kenyan Nubians have been defined as stateless people because their identity is questioned. They are without doubt one of the country’s most invisible and under-represented communities – economically, socially, politically and culturally. This is because they have been silent victims of discrimination, exclusion and violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms for as long as they have been in Kenya.

The Kenyan government uses both ethnicity and territory to establish belonging. Since both Nubian ethnicity and their territory of occupancy are contested by the government, most Nubians live as de facto stateless persons without adequate protection under national and international law, irrespective of the fact that they should be considered Kenyan citizens under the constitution. In Kenya nothing defines your citizenship more than your ethnicity. Nubians face institutionalised discrimination in the issuance of important documents. They are subjected to a vetting process of ethnic determination in order to acquire identity cards or passports.

It was only in 2010 that the Kenyan government recognised this community as one of the tribes and gave the Nubian Council of Elders a letter to show this, but this was after a long, tedious and bitter struggle. Prior to that the government had never had the official figures and records of Nubians in Kenya and never included them in any census reports. There was no official recognition of the community; the Kenyan government has always classified the community as ‘other Kenyans’ or just ‘others’.

This story changed a great deal when the Kenyan government started slum upgrading and the indigenous people – the Nubians in this case – never benefited from this project that other people with political influence gained from this new settlement area. The hustle for the land title deed began and the usual politics are still playing here, with the refusal of the Kenyan government to give this community what is rightfully theirs still leaving a question mark in one’s mind.

During the time of elections the MPs come with all sorts of lies and since they know it’s the sole thing that this tribe wants, empty promises will be given to the members. But after the election process as usual that is when you know how cruel people can be. I still wonder why we live in a place with the area MP as now the prime minister, but still cry for justice. There is nothing he has done to address the Nubians’ grievances. He just comes here only when it’s convenient for him.

Above all, Nubians live in temporary structures (built with mud and dirt) throughout Kenya and often on contested lands. You cannot build a decent structure because it’s against the law, but for how long shall we live like this? Most Nubians’ settlements do not have title deeds and are only occupied on a Temporary Occupational Licence (TOL), leaving the present generations of Nubians as mere squatters.

As I write this the living conditions of our community are in sharp decline and every one of us has a bitter story to tell. Tales of the challenges faced when acquiring identity cards and passports to the stories of life in this well-known slum traumatise us.

This has gone on for a very long time and it is time to put to an end to all this. Our Nubian Council Of Elders stood up and took our case and our pleas to the African Court in Ghana, a move which I second with all my weight. Since I was a little girl the cry has been one – ‘Land! Land! Land!’ It’s time to stand up for what is ours. Everyone is entitled to a better life because we live just once. The case started last year and I believe justice will be served.

‘Without addressing the social acceptability of any community of people, a people like the Nubians will continue to live from one crisis to another.’

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