they operate essentially beyond the reach of state structures and
the rights to political participation and legal and social protection
that citizenship should provide.
Some countries have populations in all categories: in Kenya,
for example, Asian Kenyans came with colonization and had their
citizenship rights restricted at various times; Nubian Kenyans are
black Africans yet still regarded as not eligible for full Kenyan
citizenship because they ‘originally’ came from somewhere else;
the ethnic Somali population has been consistently suspected
of support for pan-Somali unity and subject to security-force
harassment and denial of citizenship rights as a result; nomadic
pastoralist populations are excluded from many of the public
services that are extended to other Kenyans. Refugees hosted
in Kenya are in practice largely excluded from naturalizing as
citizens, while children born outside the country with just a
Kenyan mother cannot claim citizenship, though children with
a Kenyan father can do so.
Among these groups, some individuals have had recognition
of their citizenship in the form of documents that were later
invalidated by the state; some still hold citizenship documents
but are in danger of losing them at any time; some have never
had citizenship documents but would encounter difficulties or
denial if they tried to obtain them; and some hold documents,
but suffer legally mandated restrictions or discrimination that
denies them equal treatment with other citizens. All of them are
vulnerable because the legal basis of their rights – citizenship – is
non-existent, in question or under threat.
The flawed argument from ‘I was here first’
19
Introduction
The principal argument used to deny full citizenship to the
(relatively) recent migrants to and within Africa is that they are
not really ‘from’ the place. The independent states of Africa need
the undivided loyalty of their citizens, and the loyalties of these
‘immigrant’ groups or those of mixed parentage are suspect
because of their presumed divided identities.
Yet the same states that deny the right of those descended