Stateless Persons Who’ve Stayed in Kenya For Seven Years to Be Granted Citizenship

NAIROBI – Thousands of stateless persons who have called Kenya home for at least seven years could soon become citizens under a proposed law currently before Parliament.

The Kenya Citizenship and Immigration (Amendment) Bill, 2025, sponsored by Kilifi North MP Owen Baya, seeks to remove existing time barriers that have left communities like the Shona, Pemba, and Makonde in citizenship limbo despite arriving in the country as early as the 1800s.

“There are people who don’t know any other place than Kenya as home. We don’t want to continue keeping these people among us yet they cannot even get an ID,” Baya told the National Assembly committee on administration and national security while defending the legislation.

The proposed amendment would allow any stateless person with “habitual residence in Kenya for a continuous period of not less than seven years” to apply for citizenship registration.

Currently, the law requires applicants to have been lawfully resident since December 12, 1963 – Kenya’s independence day.

“Such people no longer exist. The majority of them have died and it’s their children who are around,” Baya explained, highlighting the impracticality of the current requirement.

The bill maintains existing conditions for citizenship applicants, including the ability to communicate in Kiswahili or a local dialect, a clean criminal record with no convictions carrying sentences of three years or more, and intention to remain permanently in Kenya.

Crucially, the legislation extends citizenship rights to children born to stateless parents, ensuring they can be registered immediately after birth under the Births and Registration Act.

The Shona, Pemba, and Makonde communities have remained stateless despite historical evidence of their presence in Kenya during the precolonial period.

Their limbo status has prevented access to basic services, employment opportunities, and banking facilities.

While Kenya’s Constitution recognizes citizenship by birth and registration, it does not specifically address stateless persons.

The proposed law would fill this gap by utilizing Parliament’s constitutional mandate under Article 18 to prescribe citizenship procedures.

International law provides frameworks for addressing statelessness through the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

However, Kenya is not a signatory to these treaties, making national legislation the primary avenue for resolving statelessness.

The bill awaits consideration by the parliamentary committee before proceeding to the full National Assembly for debate and voting. If passed, it would mark a significant milestone in resolving one of Kenya’s most persistent human rights challenges.

The legislation comes amid growing recognition of the need to address statelessness globally, with an estimated 12 million people worldwide lacking citizenship in any country.