STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY Burundian nationality code provides in addition to the court procedures that the Minister of Justice can issue a nationality certificate, though upon request only to a person whose nationality is not doubtful.120 In the Commonwealth countries, while a naturalisation certificate forms proof of nationality for those who acquire nationality as an adult, there is no similar document available to those who are citizens from birth. Although there may be the theoretical provision for the issue of a certificate of nationality by the executive in cases of doubt, this is effectively unknown in practice. For example, Tanzania provides that the Minister can “in such cases as he thinks fit” issue a certificate confirming that a person is a citizen, and such a certificate is conclusive evidence that the person was a citizen on that date.121 However, the laws in Kenya and Uganda have no such provision.122 Thus, there is no single document that provides conclusive proof of nationality: while the passport has highest status (Kenya and Tanzania, for example, provide that a passport is prima facie evidence of nationality; while Uganda does the same for national identity cards),123 most people do not have or require an international passport. In practice, a variety of documents may be accepted as proof of nationality, depending on the circumstances. One circumstance in which nationality may be challenged is when a person has no documents confirming nationality in the country of residence, and is accused of being a national of another country of which they also hold no documents. Even if dual nationality is permitted, this may be sufficient to cast doubt on the person’s entitlement to the nationality of the country of residence. Tanzania does not permit dual nationality for adults, but, in positive contrast to some other African countries, the Tanzanian practice has been to disregard other potential citizenships if a person has one Tanzanian parent and one foreign parent but was born in Tanzania and has never sought to claim the other citizenship. If asked, the Immigration Department will provide a letter confirming that a person is Tanzanian in these cases, without requiring any formal renunciation of a potential other nationality; this is not, however, the certificate of nationality provided for under the legislation.124 The right to a passport Only a small percentage of citizens require access to a passport: those intending international travel outside the region. Even before the decision to allow travel within the EAC on the basis of a national identity card (see below under heading on the EAC), local borders could usually be crossed without an international passport, including through use of an EAC laissez passer document. The Mecca pilgrimage, perhaps the most common international travel for the Muslim population in the region, can usually be completed on the basis of a single-use travel document. Overturning a long history in which access to passports was regarded as discretionary,125 the 2010 Kenya constitution provides that “Every citizen is entitled to a Kenyan passport and to any document of registration 120 Article 46, Code de la nationalité burundaise: "Le Ministre de la justice peut délivrer un certificat de nationalité à tout burundais qui en fait la demande et dont la nationalité n'est pas contestable." 121 Tanzania Citizenship Act 1995, Section 21. 122 Although the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act 1999 does provide in Section 33 for a “duly certified citizenship certificate” to be proof of nationality it does not establish how to obtain one. 123 Tanzania Passports and Travel Documents Act No. 20 of 2002, Section 11 (the Act also provides that the decision of the Minister in relation to refusal, revocation or cancellation of a passport is final); Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011, Section 32; Uganda Registration of Persons Act 2015, Section 69, provides that a national identity card is prima facie proof of the particulars entered in it. 124 Interviews, Department of Immigration, Dar es Salaam, July 2016. 125 Historically, British law regarded the grant of travel documentation as being within the “crown prerogative”, a privilege and not a right. In the 1985 Mwau case in Kenya, the High Court similarly ruled that “in the absence of any statutory provisions . . . the issue and withdrawal of passports is the prerogative of the president” (In re application by Mwau, 1985 LRC (Const) 444). A 2007 ruling overturned the Mwau decision, stating: “In Kenya the right of travel is an expressed constitutional right, and its existence does not have to depend on a prerogative, inference or any implied authority” (Deepak Chamanlal Kamani v. Principal Immigration Officer 34 UNHCR / September 2018