Some of the youths from the newly born tribe, the Makonde community in Kwale are yet to get identification card, almost five years after President Uhuru Kenyatta granted the community Kenyan citizenship.
More than 200 youth from the once stateless community residing in Kwale County have not received ID cards since they applied for the document in November last year.
The community now says the delayed issuance of IDs is infringing on their right to vote because most of them failed to register as voters in the just concluded voter registration exercise.
In 2016, the Makonde were granted citizenship by President Uhuru Kenyatta and the process of issuing them with IDs started in 2017.
According to the community chairperson Thomas Nguli, they are concerned that this delay is causing them unnecessary challenges and their rights compromised. He said some had even planned to join politics but have no documentation.
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“We are entering an electioneering period yet our young people have not yet been given ID cards. This has led to continued discrimination as us being non-Kenyans,” he said.
Those who have not yet received their cards said they have been locked out of many opportunities and accessing major services such as mobile money for lack of official identification.
The majority of the Makonde community lives in Msambweni constituency in areas such as Gazi, Makongeni, Mwabungo, and Mwangwei.
Reports from the Registrar of Persons in Kwale show that there were over 5,000 ID cards that had not been collected from the office.
The registrar said they will be working with area sub-chiefs to deliver the ID cards to its owners in sub-locations to have them get the IDs.
The Makonde originally came from Southern Tanzania and Mozambique and settled on the Kenyan Coast.
Their plea comes as Kwale recorded a low number of newly registered voters.
