Nubians petition IEBC over representation

By Saada Abdi

The Nubian ethnic minority community of Kenya has submitted a petition to the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) challenging exclusion in political parties’ lists and representation to the National Assembly, Senate and County Assemblies.

According to the petition lodged on March 19, 2013 at the IEBC Anniversary Towers offices, the community demanded the gazettement of the list of nominees by political parties as supported by Articles 90(3) be stopped with immediate effect. The petition further insisted that “all political parties be compelled to include representation from the Nubian Community in both the National Assembly, the Senate and the County Assemblies as special interest group” and that the Nubian Community be consulted in choosing their representation to the National Assembly and Senate.

The Nubian Community is a unique bonafide ethnic community of Kenya having been brought into the region at the turn of the 20th century by the British colonialists to support their expansionist schemes during the “scramble for Africa.” After successfully supporting the British colonial government in its colonization quest in Eastern Africa including the two World Wars, the Nubians were settled in various towns along the Kenya-Uganda Railway such as Mombasa, Machakos, Nairobi, Eldama Ravine, Tange-Kibigori and Kakamega among others. Currently, the largest Nubian settlement in Kenya is in Kibra Constituency, Nairobi County.

Nubian ethnic minority community has experienced various forms of marginalization, discrimination and exclusion. “Key among forms of marginalization experienced by the Nubian community include lack of representation, refusal to grant a communal land title to the community in Kibra, denial by Kenyan Government authorities to issue Nubians with identity cards, passports and birth certificates and subjecting members of the community to unjust and discriminatory practices of systematic vetting,” the petition statement reads.  

Nubian Community- Old Photo.

Source-The New Dawn.