The Makonde community of Kwale County may not participate in the August General Election following the delay on issuance of their national identity cards.
They appealed to the government to fast-track the process to be able to be registered in the last phase of Mass Voter Registration (MVR) which kicked off today.
The community which has been stateless since it’s existence was declared as the 43rd tribe when President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive that all illegible Makonde people should be given IDs before December 2016.
This was after the community accompanied by various human rights groups staged a four day walk from Kwale to Nairobi’s State House.
But Lupina Asumani accused Interior and National Government Coordination of not delivering on the Presidential directive more than three weeks after the exercise.
“We only have the waiting cards and are yet to get IDs as the government keeps on telling us to wait,” said Ms. Lupina Asumani.
“We are calling on the president to intervene once more before the deadline of the mass voter registration to allow us to vote in the critical election in August,” she said.
The Makonde are a community living in Kwale County but originally came from Mozambique.
