Born Kenyan, Forced to Prove It: How Section 13 Turns Constitutional Citizens Into Suspects

A national ID sits abandoned in a Super Metro matatu. For most Kenyans, losing this card means two weeks of paperwork. For Nubians, it triggers a four month citizenship interrogation despite being Kenyan citizens by birth. While government promises 7 day processing, Nubian Kenyans document waiting 3 to 6 months. This is not bureaucratic delay. This is state-sanctioned discrimination against constitutional citizens.

• 600,000 ID applications delayed - MPs summoned CS @kipmurkomen in Nov 2025

• Nubians are Kenyan citizens by birth (Constitution Articles 14, 63) yet face citizenship interrogations others never experience

• Section 13 discretionary powers = officials demand extra proof based on ethnicity with no oversight

• Mother's documentation trap: Birth registration requires mother's ID. When mothers faced discrimination, children can't be registered. Documentation gaps become hereditary.

• Feb 2025 directive abolished vetting - validation committees still operate, renamed "validation"

• Without IDs: No M-Pesa, banking, SHA healthcare, voting, school, employment

• 42% of unbanked cite documentation barriers as primary obstacle

• 9,800 stateless people in Kenya despite meeting citizenship requirements

• @NubianRights has documented these patterns for decades. The 254 Report will amplify community voices demanding constitutional equality.

We Are Not Equal: What Nubians See at Huduma Centres

Government claims: "7 day ID processing for all Kenyans."

The Constitution guarantees it. Articles 14 and 63 define Nubians as Kenyan citizens by birth. Article 27 prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity or religion.

Practice violates all three.

In November 2025, MPs from Northeastern Kenya summoned Interior Cabinet Secretary @kipmurkomen because 600,000 ID applications sat in processing limbo. The backlog concentrated in counties with large Muslim populations. MPs accused government officials of "sabotaging the presidential directive" that supposedly abolished discriminatory vetting eight months earlier.

The directive changed nothing. Nubian Rights Forum community paralegals document that validation committees continue meeting, Kenyan citizens still answer citizenship questions, and processing times remain 10 to 20 weeks longer for Nubians, Muslims, and border communities.

Section 13 of the Registration of Persons Act grants officials "discretionary powers" to request additional documentation. No criteria exist for when discretion applies. No oversight monitors its use. No appeals process exists. Officials decide whose Kenyan citizenship needs extra proof.

Same Office, Same Day, Different Treatment

Nubian families in Kibera watch this pattern repeat. When their child applies for an ID and a neighbour's child applies at the same time, all their child's documents get verified while the neighbour's child goes through smoothly. Officials treat Nubian documents as suspicious. Muslim names trigger extra scrutiny. Kenyan citizenship becomes conditional on ethnicity.

Parents apply for IDs for two children. Officials process one application in days. The other requires both parents' complete documentation, committee validation, months of waiting. The difference? The family is Nubian. Being born Kenyan is not enough. They must prove how Kenyan, for how long, with what evidence.

Parents watch differential treatment happen in real time. Same office. Same day. Same documentation. Different outcomes based solely on surname and appearance.

This is what Nubian Rights Forum means when community members state: We are not equal.

The Mother Must Be Kenyan: Where Constitutional Rights Become Hereditary Exclusion

Birth registration creates the first barrier. Officials require the mother's birth certificate and national ID to register a child. But when Nubian mothers faced discrimination getting their own IDs decades ago, they lack documents to register children born today.

The Constitution does not make citizenship conditional on maternal documentation. Yet practice does.

A Nubian mother gives birth. She never received her birth certificate decades ago because her mother lacked documentation. Without a birth certificate, she never got an ID. Without an ID, she cannot register her newborn child. Her child grows up without birth documentation. That child becomes an adult who cannot get an ID. That adult cannot register their own children.

The documentation gap becomes hereditary exclusion of constitutional citizens.

Muslim and Nubian families often give birth at home or in religious settings. When they attempt to register these births, officials question document legitimacy. Parents know falsification carries 10,000 shilling penalties. Fear of accusation makes some avoid registration entirely.

This creates what Nubian Rights Forum calls the catch-22: Policy meant to prevent fraud blocks genuinely qualified Kenyan citizens. When legitimate home births face non-recognition, families choose between honesty officials reject or deception that carries penalties.

Nubian Rights Forum paralegals worked with a 28 year old Kenyan woman in Mathare who had never been registered at birth. Without a birth certificate, she could not get an ID. Without an ID, she could not open a bank account, register for M-Pesa, or enroll her three children in school. Three generations existed outside official systems. Not because they lacked Kenyan citizenship. Because one registrar decades earlier questioned her grandmother's home birth documentation.

The Vetting That Never Ended

February 2025: Presidential directive abolishes ID vetting for border counties and marginalized communities. Nubian Rights Forum and partner civil society organizations cautiously celebrated. Kenyan citizens hoped 60 years of discriminatory practice might finally end.

September 2025: Civil society documents that "every aspect of the new ID rules contains provisions that mirror the old vetting." Officials renamed the process from "vetting" to "validation" and continued exactly as before.

Nubian Rights Forum community workers in Kisii, Mandera, Garissa report: validation committees still meet. Kenyan citizens still answer questions about where families come from and how long they have lived in Kenya. Processing still takes months for communities officials consider suspicious.

Passport applications show even starker discrimination. Nubians must provide: mother's birth certificate, father's birth certificate, applicant's birth certificate, IDs of both parents. Other Kenyans provide one parent's documents. Sometimes minimal documentation.

Biometric capture shows differential treatment in real time. When someone applies with another person, the other person gets biometrics captured that day. Nubian applicants get told officials will communicate later about when to return.

Nubians are Kenyan citizens by birth. The Constitution guarantees equal treatment. Practice delivers conditional citizenship based on ethnicity.

What Constitutional Citizenship Costs When Officials Discriminate

Without IDs, constitutional citizens cannot access nine essential services:

• M-Pesa and mobile money registration requires ID verification

• Bank accounts need ID for KYC compliance

• Social Health Authority healthcare enrollment requires ID

• Voter registration blocks democratic participation in a country where you are constitutionally a citizen

• School enrollment needs birth certificates parents cannot obtain without IDs

• Formal employment because 90% of employers require ID verification

• SGR train travel checks ID at booking and boarding

• SIM card registration restricts telecommunications access

• Civil registry services cannot register births, marriages, deaths

Research shows more than half of people with national IDs earn income from work, compared to fewer than one in three without IDs. The ID gap directly creates an income gap for constitutional citizens.

For Nubian women running small businesses, loss of ID means loss of M-Pesa access. Mobile money requires ID registration. When women cannot send or receive money digitally, they lose access to informal credit networks. 42% of adults without bank accounts cited ID documentation as the primary barrier.

When officials have unlimited discretion and certain communities face systematic delays, bribery becomes an alternative pathway. Community members report paying 1,000 to 2,000 shillings to speed processing that should be free. Interior CS @kipmurkomen warned officials against bribes in October 2025. Warnings without enforcement change nothing.

Constitutional citizens pay twice: once in time lost waiting, again in bribes to overcome barriers that should not exist.

Stateless in Kenya After 30 Years of Residency

Kenya hosts 860,297 refugees as of August 2025. Thousands arrived from Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. Others fled South Sudan during civil conflict. Many have lived in Kenya for 30 years. Their children were born here. Some grandchildren have never lived anywhere else.

The Constitution provides a pathway. Citizenship by registration requires 7 years residency, Swahili proficiency, and "good moral conduct." These long term residents meet every requirement.

But Rwanda revoked nationalities of those who did not return. South Sudan did the same. Refugees became stateless refugees. UNHCR estimates 9,800 stateless people in Kenya. This excludes children born to stateless parents, who inherit lack of legal identity.

A 45 year old Rwandan man arrived in 1994 fleeing genocide. He has lived in Kenya for 31 years. He speaks fluent Swahili. He worked informally for three decades and raised four children. He applied for citizenship by registration in 2018. Seven years later, his application sits unanswered.

He has no ID. He cannot open a bank account. He cannot register his children for secondary school. He cannot travel legally. He exists nowhere according to government systems, despite living his entire adult life in Kenya and meeting all constitutional requirements.

How Nubian Rights Forum Built Parallel Systems Government Refused

When government systems fail constitutional citizens, communities create alternatives. Not because they want to. Because they must survive.

Nubian Rights Forum operates community paralegals across Nairobi, Kisii, and coastal regions who document discrimination systematically. They track when officials demand extra documents from Nubian applicants that other Kenyans never provide. They help families gather documentation and prepare for validation questioning. They escalate cases stuck for months to legal advocates.

At a November 2025 training, facilitators asked: stand up if you feel you have changed someone's life through documentation support.

Everyone stood.

This shows both victory and injustice. Victory because community networks function. Injustice because constitutional citizens should not need parallel bureaucracies to access rights the Constitution already guarantees.

Death registration shows how deep these workarounds go. Islamic burial requires burial within 24 hours. But death certificates require the deceased's ID. When Kenyan citizens die without documentation discrimination prevented them from obtaining, families cannot register deaths.

Nubian and Muslim communities partnered with hospitals and chiefs. When someone dies, a doctor confirms it. The chief records it. Those letters plus burial permit allow families to proceed with religious obligations.

Other Kenyans do not need separate systems to bury their dead. Muslims built parallel documentation because official systems create conflicts between legal requirements and religious practice for constitutional citizens.

When Mainstream Coverage Gaps, Communities Tell Their Own Stories

During Huduma Namba campaign, Nubian Rights Forum observed limited mainstream media coverage of documentation discrimination issues affecting their community.

Community members reached out to journalists at multiple media houses. Some expressed interest. Follow-through proved challenging.

Faced with limited coverage options, Nubian Rights Forum built community radio platforms and grassroots storytelling channels. These became spaces where affected families could share experiences directly.

Community media filled gaps where mainstream coverage remained sparse.

What The 254 Report Will Do in Partnership with Nubian Rights Forum

If selected for the Nubian Rights Forum media workshop reporting grant, The 254 Report will amplify community voices demanding constitutional equality. This investigation will document patterns @NubianRights has observed for decades, creating accountability pressure through evidence-based reporting.

Investigation One: How Maternal Documentation Requirements Lock Families Out for Generations

Document how requiring mother's birth certificate and ID to register children creates hereditary exclusion for Nubian families. Interview 10 to 15 families willing to share experiences. Record audio testimony. Review publicly available documents showing policy requirements versus constitutional guarantees.

Output: Written article (4,000-5,000 words) and audio episode (12-15 minutes)

Investigation Two: The President Said Vetting Ended, But Committees Still Meet

Document that validation committees continue operating despite February 2025 presidential directive. Interview 10 to 15 Kenyan citizens about ID application experiences. Compare testimony to directive language. Show gap between policy promise and ground reality.

Output: Written article (4,000-5,000 words) and audio episode (12-15 minutes)

Investigation Three: 31 Years in Kenya, Still Waiting for Citizenship

Profile long term residents who meet citizenship requirements but cannot naturalize. Document 3 to 5 family situations. Interview legal experts about why constitutional pathways fail in practice. Show what statelessness costs families daily.

Output: Written article (4,000-5,000 words) and audio episode (12-15 minutes)

Distribution Strategy

Written: Publish three articles over consecutive days on The 254 Report website.

Audio: Create three standalone episodes. Let community members tell stories in their own voices. Embed in articles. Offer as downloads.

LinkedIn: Target policymakers, civil society leaders, development professionals, legal experts. Tag @InteriorKE, @KNCHR, @NubianRights, @KatibaInstitute, @TISAKenya, @Amnesty, @hrw.

Twitter/X: Create threads. Post standalone statistics. Tag government officials, MPs, civil society: @InteriorKE, @WilliamsRuto, @kipmurkomen, @NubianRights, @KatibaInstitute, @TISAKenya.

Impact Goals

Create evidence-based documentation of discrimination that officials cannot dismiss.

Amplify Nubian voices demanding rights the Constitution already guarantees.

Generate accountability pressure on government to implement February 2025 directive and eliminate Section 13 discretionary powers.

Provide @NubianRights and partner organizations with documented patterns for advocacy and litigation.

Support what Nubian Rights Forum has fought for: enforcement of constitutional protections, end to discriminatory processing, recognition that Nubians are Kenyan citizens demanding equal treatment, not a minority seeking special consideration.

Why This Investigation Matters to Constitutional Equality

That national ID in the Super Metro matatu, posted with M-Pesa contact instead of taken to police, shows communities trust each other more than institutions that discriminate.

Nubians are not a minority seeking special treatment. They are constitutional citizens demanding equal treatment Articles 14, 27, and 63 guarantee.

Section 13 discretionary powers destroy constitutional equality in practice. Officials use unlimited discretion to require different documentation, impose different timelines, demand different proof based on ethnicity.

The 254 Report will document this through Nubian testimony, audio storytelling, processing time comparisons, validation committee documentation, evidence of hereditary documentation gaps, and profiles of stateless residents.

This investigation amplifies what @NubianRights states plainly: We are Kenyan. We deserve equal treatment. The Constitution says so. Practice must reflect it.

Wanubi kwa haki zetu, kuungana, iko haja!

Mshairi Simba Mla Watu is a Nubian poet and cultural advocate whose work centers on citizenship rights, community unity, and the lived experiences of Nubian Kenyans demanding constitutional equality.