“You Can’t Go To College Without An ID”
15th December 2009, in Interviews (5 Comments)
Following reports of the illegal sale of Kenyan identification papers to foreigners, the government issued a directive to restrict issuance of identification papers to ethnically Somali individuals (whether from Somalia or Kenyan-born). We met Abdullahi Ahmed, a Kenyan journalist, who explained how directives such as these are affecting Kenyan citizens of Somali origin.
Abdullahi also discussed how rampant anti-Somali discrimination (such as that highlighted by the directive above) probably provides a basis for the youth from Kenya’s neglected northeastern region to fight in Somalia.
Get the transcript here. [Adobe PDF]
Read media references to these two stories here and here, and here.
5 Comments
December 30, 2009 12:01 am
Lucille Kahara (@www.twitter.com/lkahara)
If the government is going to discriminate against the Somali or even a 3rd generation Kenyan of Somali descent, then why hasn’t the same been done to the Indian community in the country? It’s complete and utter nonsense on the government’s part. How is anyone from another ethnic background any less of a Kenyan? How exactly can we expect to grow as a country if this is what’s going on? It’s sickening!
February 23, 2010 12:12 pm
Abdulwahid Ahmed
The government is by doing this, is showing us how unreliable and unjust it is. I would like to ask why only Somalis are being used to raise up dust while we very well know there are people from other ethnic groups living in other countries just like the somalis, and who are capable of crossing into Kenya for example the Maasai who also are in Tanzania, the Luo who are in Uganda and Sudan and many more. These moves by the government are discriminatory and will boil down to utter nonsense. As Somalis, we know we are hated because of our hardwork n creativity. This, the world should know, is inate and come what may… Intimidation or not, love us or hate us, with any government’s support or without, the sky will always be the limit. Mlio wa chura haitamzuia ndovu kunywa maji mtoni.
March 31, 2010 6:15 pm
Paul Eric
This could be government acting on behalf of the Western Powers’ GWOT. Remember that? It’s still very much alive in the hearts and minds of US/UK administration apparatus. Somali are viewed by these entities just like potential mujaheeds. Sad, wrong, but true. Just like the Paki’s have a figurative gun pointing at them, so too governments everywhere that are seen to be “harboring”. Connect the dots.
April 3, 2010 6:40 pm
Paul Eric
They Thought They Were Free…
“THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
- Pastor Martin Niemöller
April 20, 2010 3:39 am
Michelle
If the government is going to discriminate against the Somali or even a 3rd generation Kenyan of Somali descent, then why hasn’t the same been done to the Indian community in the country? It’s complete and utter nonsense on the government’s part. How is anyone from another ethnic background any less of a Kenyan? How exactly can we expect to grow as a country if this is what’s going on? It’s sickening!
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