Implementation of Constitution is saviour of Nubian Community

BY SAADA ABDI

The Nubian community wants to know what measures the government will take to ensure all the descendents of the community who have been living as stateless are registered as Kenyan citizens.

The community has also pleaded with the government to state the steps it will take to address the rights of Nubian land in Kibra which was originally granted to them by the British colonial government but has since been lost to other communities with the connivance of local administration.

Speaking during the Nubian professionals meeting held in Nairobi Ismail Ramadhan concentrated on the issue of economics and the identity of land as their resources on how it could be commercialised with the establishment of infrastructure and planning in order for the community to benefit.

But lack of land has become the biggest issue for Nubians who have lost over 4000 acres since Kenya’s independence from the British colony as the government either supported the loss of land or turned the other side when other people were on a land grabbing spree.

With only less than 700 acres remaining, most Nubians are living with the threat of evictions due to government’s upgrading programme where private houses are built and given out to people of other communities except Nubians. The growing Nubian population is not making things any better.

Nubians have been forced to live in semi-permanent houses in deplorable conditions because they lack security of tenure on their lands in the form title deeds, lack of water and other social amenities.

The community has been agitating for the their lost land and they not only want to know what the Uhuru Kenyatta government will do to restore this resource but also what measures the new government will take to include the marginalised community as citizens of Kenya.

Lawyer Vincent Ochieng told the meeting to that the solution to the land problem in Kibra lay in reading the Constitution, knowing of community’s rights and collecting evidence of dispossession. He advised the Nubians to take the available land and claim the rest through the Truth Justice and Reconciliation process.

History without evidence cannot work, he said, and added that the constitution does not clarify who the Nubian community is.

It is important for Nubian professionals to take their rightful position as advisers and resource persons.

The meeting came up with 10 recommendations to help the community including need for civic education , data collection with groups like Kenya Land Commission, engaging the ministry of lands and both county and national government among others strategies.

The Nubian professionals expressed optimism that with the new constitution their land rights will be restored especially with the help of area MP Hon. Ken Okoth who has promised to address the issue once and for all.

“We have a lot of faith in our Constitution and will cooperate and engage in it effectively to ensure that and agreeable solution is reached”, the Kibra MP told the professionals’ meeting.

Dr Asha Ibahim talked of need for frequent meetings to be effective at least once per month.

Source-The New Dawn.