Click on the link below to watch:
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=111797&rpc=60
Thousands of Nubians living in Nairobi's Kibera slum campaign for land which they claim belongs to them, and better living conditions.
An Africa Journal report.
You can read more with Mzee Issa Abdul Faraj-vice chair-Kenyan Nubian Elders;
Nubians
TRAILER
Scattered around Kenya, especially in the slum of Kibera, lives the illegal and discriminated against community originating from Sudan, with no identity and an uncertain future.
RUNTIME: 02:29
COUNTRY: KENYA
FILMING LOCATION: KIBERA
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, SWAHILI
SOURCE: A24MEDIA
SCRIPT
The Nubians in Kenya, otherwise thought of as ‘fifth generation foreigners’ have lived in Kenya for many years, however, they are not considered to be legal citizens. They are stateless. The Nubians are originally from Sudan; many of them have lived in Kenya for decades due to the service of Sudanese soldiers in the British army. They were a part of the Kings African Rifles (KAR) during World War I.
The Kenyan government has refused to give citizenship to the Nubians most of whom live in the Kibera slum. They were settled in Kibera by the colonial government. The case that the Kenyan government holds is that Nubians are foreigners living in Kenya who have not renounced their Sudanese citizenship and are therefore not entitled to Kenyan citizenship. In 1939 the Sudanese government did not accept requests from Nubians (who were Sudanese soldiers at that time) to be repatriated to Sudan, hence leaving them with no choice but to stay in Kenya.
Their fight for survival under harsh circumstances has been of a commendable nature. They live in fear of being persecuted by other Kenyans. Many attempts have been made to move them out of Kibera, a place they dominated decades ago; however the government has failed to get rid of them.
Under chapter six of the Kenyan constitution Section 87(I), for citizenship in Kenya, it is it stated that a member of the Nubian community was eligible for automatic citizenship if they met three conditions;
They were born in Kenya
They were on 11th December 1963 citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies or British protected persons
At least one of their parents was born in Kenya
Due to the above conditions many new generations of Nubians born in Kenya have been given citizenship. Those who cannot prove that their grandparents or parents were born in Nairobi face a lot of difficulties in terms of getting citizenship and ID cards.
Another important point to be noted is that Nubians do not fall under any of the tribal communities in Kenya although they would like to be recognized as one. Currently they are referred to as the ‘others’, outsiders. They face high rates of discrimination and are forced to keep to themselves and only speak to people from other tribes if they have no choice. They want to be issued title deeds stating that the land that was given to them in Kibera by the British is Nubian land.
In the early days because Kibera’s more dominant inhabitants were the Nubians many people faced difficulties but some were comfortable with the Nubians. For instance, in 1969 after the assassination of Tom Mboya, Kibera was a haven for his ethnic group and the Nubians were hospitable to these people who had faced persecution by their fellow Kenyans from different tribes in other areas.
The Nubians do not only live in Kibera though. They are scattered around Kenya in places like Kisumu, Kisii, Mombasa, Meru as well as many other places around the country.
In 1933 a report was written stating that Nubians had a right to equity. This report was drafted by Sir Morris Carter (a British colonial administrator) and is now referred to as the Carter report. It noted that:
"We consider that the government had a clear duty to these ex-askaris either to repatriate them (which they declined to do in 1939) or to find accommodation for them. They were told that they might make their homes in Kibira and in our judgement they ought not to be moved without receiving a suitable land elsewhere and compensation for disturbance, and we believe that similar obligations exist in respect of their widows, or sons who are already householders at Kibira." (1933:171) Centre for Minority Rights Development (2004).
Retrieved from: http://www.cemiride.info/repository2/webfiles/nubian_adv.pdf
Not all of the recommendations made in the Carter report were carried out. If they had been, the situation of Nubians in Kenya may have been a lot easier today, however, the circumstances have not made life for Nubians in Kenya hospitable.
About 90% of the Nubians in Kenya are landless, and therefore live in poverty. This impacts their daily life in terms of food and health security as well as education. They also face many difficulties as they can not find employment mainly due to being stereotyped or disrespected by other communities. It is unknown whether these ‘other’ people will ever be accepted to a place they call home or whether their struggle will go on for decades to come.
SHOTLIST
01:00 VOX POP, KENYAN MALE (SWAHILI)
"When they refuse to give you ID, what will you vote with, you’re told to go and get your great great parents certificates of birth"
01:17 01:00 VOX POP, KENYAN MALE (SWAHILI)
"Asking for you grandparents certificate, it’s as good as refusing him an ID"
01:23 ITV, ISA ABDUL FARAJ, VICE CHAIRMAN, KENYA NUBIAN COUNCIL OF ELDERS (ENGLISH)
"If you can’t get your ID obviously, you can’t get a passport , if you can’t get this documentation, you can’t get the pin number"
01:31 ITV, ANGELA KHAMINWA, PROJECT CONSULTANT, OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE (ENGLISH)
"You won’t be able to go to a clinic if you don’t have your ID, you might not be able to attend university, if you can’t prove that you’re Kenyan, you can’t open a bank account in Kenya if you don’t have an identification card"
01:44 ITV, ISA ABDUL FARAJ, VICE CHAIRM
AN, KENYA NUBIAN COUNCIL OF ELDERS (ENGLISH)
"Before independence all blacks were in the same basket, they were all treated as fourth class citizens or whatever"
01:55 ITV, ANGELA KHAMINWA, PROJECT CONSULTANT, OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE (ENGLISH)
"They were not included as citizens of Kenya when people were being granted citizenship"
02:02 ITV, ISA ABDUL FARAJ, VICE CHAIRMAN, KENYA NUBIAN COUNCIL OF ELDERS (ENGLISH)
"Kibera in Kinubi means forest, tropical forest type, where the sunlight, rays of the sun cannot reach the forest"
02:12 ITV, ANGELA KHAMINWA, PROJECT CONSULTANT, OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE (ENGLISH)
"The British government allocated the land in Kibera but didn’t actually give them title deed, any kind of paper work for that"
02:22 VOX POP, TWO NUBIANS (ENGLISH)
"The nubians in those days had cattle, had their own farms, they used to get their food from the farm, they used to have houses where they would rent to people and we used to get our money from there for education and everything but after independence the Kenya government decided to break all these houses, their idea was to strangulate people economically which was perfected by the Kenya government"
02:44 ITV, KORRIR SINGOEI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CEMIRIDE, CENTRE FOR MINORITY RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT (ENGLISH)
"They have been displaced like over ten times to just pave way to one development or the other and that displacement has been violent, it’s been without notice, it’s been without compensation"
03:02 ITV, ANGELA KHAMINWA, PROJECT CONSULTANT, OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE (ENGLISH)
"We need to deal with this issue as a country very openly"
03:06 ITV, KORRIR SINGOEI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CEMIRIDE, CENTRE FOR MINORITY RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT (ENGLISH)
"What they desire is that what they currently occupy within Kibera would at the very minimum, at the very minimum be granted to them"
03:17 ITV, MAINA KIAI, FORMER CHAIRMAN OF KENYA’S NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
"You know for me in fact you address them because they are sensitive, not because they are not"
03:21 CREDITS
END
No comments:
Post a Comment