NAIROBI, Kenya — Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has confirmed that the Nubian community is legally recognised as one of Kenya’s ethnic groups under national law.
Murkomen said the government, through the National Registration Bureau (NRB), has formally assigned the Nubian community a unique ethnic identification code, affirming its legal status as part of the country’s diverse national fabric.
Responding to a question in the Senate from Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the CS explained that the NRB had assigned the Nubians their own code — Number 50 — in 2022, marking their full recognition in Kenya’s registration framework.
“As part of the ongoing process of updating ethnic codes, the Nubian community was officially assigned a distinct ethnic code, Code Number 50, thereby recognising them as a Kenyan ethnic community,” Murkomen said.
He noted that members of the Nubian community have been issued with national identification cards since 1978, beginning with the first-generation IDs.
The ethnic code system, introduced in 1995 with the rollout of second-generation IDs and the Kenya Identity Management System (KIDMS), assigns every ethnic community a unique code for recordkeeping and verification purposes. Initially, Nubians were registered under a generic “Other Kenyans” code (81).
Murkomen clarified that no member of the Nubian community has ever been denied registration because of a missing communal code.
Instead, he said, the assignment of ethnic codes has been a gradual and continuous process to accommodate emerging ethnic distinctions and sub-groups.
He further dismissed reports of discrimination in the issuance of IDs to Nubians, noting that previous barriers — such as a special vetting process for certain communities — had been abolished following a presidential directive.
“The Nubian community was among those positively affected by this reform. Previously, members had to undergo vetting with attestation from community elders to distinguish Kenyan Nubians from migrants. That process has since been discontinued, and the community is now fully integrated into the standard national registration framework,” he said.
The Nubians, whose ancestors settled in Kenya during the early 20th century, have for decades sought formal recognition amid historical challenges in accessing identification and citizenship documents.
Murkomen’s confirmation marks a significant milestone in that long struggle for inclusion.
