The Interior ministry a few days ago announced that Kenyans will henceforth be issued with passports within five days. This comes after a myriad of complaints from Kenyans on the delays in the issuance of passports which have been rampant over the last few months.
But as optimism greeted the announcement of the service charter, for Muslims questions still abound whether they will also benefit from the five-day pledge.
For the record, when it comes to the issuance of national identity cards and passports, an openly discriminatory policy has been in place for Muslims for almost two decades.
While for other Kenyans even a baptismal certificate could be an acceptable document to apply for a national ID, for Muslims additional documents, which include grandparents' birth certificates, are required.
Any applicant with a Muslim name is required to undergo rigorous vetting where they face a panel which includes officials from the Immigration department, Civil registration department and the National Intelligence Service to prove their citizenship.
The most obnoxious part of it is that even infants, who barely know what is going on in their surroundings, are required to be physically presented to the vetting committee to prove their Kenyan citizenship before being issued passports.
The vetting policy emanates from a 2007 confidential circular issued to District Commissioners by the Registrar of Persons requiring Muslim applicants to undergo vetting as well as providing additional documents such as birth certificates of grandparents. In some cases, applicants are required to also present documents which include title deeds to vetting committees as proof of citizenship.
This discrimination came to the fore in Parliament when former Kisumu Town West MP Ken Nyagudi brought to the House a case of two brothers from his constituency, a Christian and a Muslim, who had applied for national IDs at the same time. While the former easily obtained the document, his brother, even after presenting his grandparent's birth certificates, still encountered difficulties in obtaining the document.
In 2011, Mombasa High Court judge Justice Jackton Ojwang ruled that the vetting policy is discriminatory and did not conform to the new constitutional dispensation which guaranteed all Kenyans their basic rights.
This followed a case filed by the chairman of the Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) Khelef Khalifa. More than a decade down the line, successive governments have not found it prudent to do away with the policy which openly contravenes the basic rights of Muslims.
During his presidential campaigns, then Deputy President William Ruto acknowledged the difficulties faced by Muslims in obtaining the documents and promised that doing away with the discrimination will be amongst his foremost priority once he attained power.
Perhaps in following up his pledge, in March this year, Immigration and Citizens Services PS Julius Bitok announced a policy change abolishing mandatory vetting for applicants in Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera counties as a prerequisite for issuance of IDs and other registration documents.
While the policy was hailed as a big step towards ending the years of discrimination, three months later, a think tank based in Garissa, the Horizon Analysts and Researchers Network said the announcement remained on paper and was not being implemented.
In response to calls to end the discrimination faced by Muslims in obtaining IDs and passports by Jamia Mosque vice chairman Abdullatif Essajee during the Iftar (breaking the fast) dinner in the months of Ramadhan at State House, President Ruto was categorical that the discrimination policy would be a thing of the past stressing that every Kenyan regardless of faith or racial background would be treated equally when applying for IDs and passports.
More than three months after the presidential announcement, which was greeted with applause and optimism, on the ground it is still business as usual as Muslims continue to suffer under the yoke of discrimination, double standards and a distraught feeling of being treated as second-class citizens.
For many Muslims, it remains painful seeing their fellow countrymen easily obtaining the documents, which facilitate them to easily access education, job opportunities and a wide array of government services as well as travelling abroad, while because of their faith, they are encumbered to go through innumerable hurdles to obtain the same documents.
While the Constitution is clear with regard to the basic rights of all Kenyans where all citizens are accorded equal rights, for Muslims when it comes to obtaining IDs and passports, it remains a privilege and not a right.
On this matter, it appears that the community's hopes for equal treatment are pegged on the intervention of the Head of State to ensure that his declaration of equality is implemented. Over to you, President Ruto.
Member of the Jamia Mosque Committee, Nairobi. [email protected]
