K E N Ya | The Pemba “I want to be a Kenyan national, but I also want to be who I am.” Kenyan citizenship. However, an inability to meet evidentiary requirements of proof of arrival or date of birth in the country, as well as a lack of adequate Government infrastructure to implement citizenship by registration, has left some eligible stateless groups, such as the Pemba, without a solution. For some, like 90 year-old Pemba woman Moboje Musa, this has meant almost a century of exclusion. “I’m old enough to have great, great grandchildren, but I am still stateless,” she says. Omar Kombo, 48, and some of his children, Kwale County, Kenya. 34 • UNHCR STATELESSNESS REPORT 2017 However, there are signs that this situation may change. In December 2016, the Kenyan Government recognized the stateless Makonde, another ethnic group living on the Kenyan Coast, as Kenyan nationals, waiving certain evidentiary requirements and issuing national identity cards and late birth certificates to eligible members of the community. The Government has also extended the deadline by which stateless persons present in the country since independence and their descendants can register for nationality from August 2016 to August 2019, signaling an awareness of the ongoing nature of the problem and a willingness to address it. Members of the Pemba community are mobilizing, together with local NGOs such as the Mombasabased Haki Centre and UNHCR, to advocate for their recognition as Kenyan nationals. 2017 UNHCR STATELESSNESS REPORT • 35