STATELESSNESS IN A STATE? CHRISPIN BOSIRE* BACKGROUND. “I apologize on behalf of my government and that of previous governments for having lived in this condition for so long. You are not visitors in this country, and I order that by the time I come to Mombasa in December the people should be registered” 1 THE MAKONDE COMMUNITY. The Makonde arrived in Kenya in the colonial period2 mainly as labourers in sugar and sisal plantations at the coast. There are almost 10,000 members of the Makonde community at the Kenyan coast. Due to their lack of Kenyan nationality, the Makonde were unable to access national identity cards and are also unable to obtain services that require people to produce Identity cards.3 Over the decade they have tried in vain to acquire Kenyan citizenship. There have been at-least three attempts at registration that have stalled midway. The Makonde are recorded as having voted in the first elections in independent Kenya. 4 *Is a third year LLB student at Moi University School of Law, also Director of Moots at the school. 1 See President Uhuru Kenyatta’s speech on the ‘Trek to end statelessness by the Makonde community. 2 Generally, in the 1940s 3 See http://www.khrc.or.ke/2015-03-04-10-37-01/blog/561-the-makonde-community-finally-recognized-as-kenyan- citizens.html 4 See Kenya Human Rights Commission blog by Catherine Kamatu. Electroniccopy copyavailable available at: at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3079430 Electronic https://ssrn.com/abstract=3079430