‘Stop agonising and start organising’: Senator Asige’s rallying cry on Minority Rights Day
Senator Crystal Asige during a committee sitting at Bunge Tower, Nairobi, on April 10, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Senator Asige used International Minority Rights Day to spotlight how persons with disabilities and other minorities are rendered invisible through poor data, warning that undercounting leads directly to exclusion, underfunding and neglect.
- A viral clip of former President Uhuru Kenyatta describing his appearance reignited debate on inclusive communication, a practice Senator Asige says reflects intention rather than performative inclusion.
Before he spoke of policy or politics, former President Uhuru Kenyatta paused to describe himself.
"For the benefit of those who may not be able to see me," he began, then offered a brief visual description of his appearance.
It was a small gesture—barely a sentence—but for those watching, it carried weight. The moment, captured at the recent Intergovernmental Authority on Development Annual Alumni Conference, was shared on Thursday by nominated Senator Crystal Asige as the world marked International Minority Rights Day.
The senator, a fierce advocate for persons living with disabilities who is herself visually impaired, revealed that the former president had picked up the practice from her—a deliberate move to normalise inclusive communication, particularly for Kenyans with visual impairments.
"The moment resonated because it reflects a broader conversation I have consistently raised: that inclusion is not about performance or optics, but about intention and understanding how systems affect people differently," Ms Asige said. "Small actions, when done deliberately, often say more than grand statements."
For the senator, the clip was not merely a tribute to a former head of state. It was a poignant entry point into a much larger, systemic issue: the danger of being invisible in your own country.
The data crisis
Ms Asige's message on International Minority Rights Day cut to the heart of what she describes as a critical data crisis. “Persons with disabilities are the world's largest minority—about 15 per cent globally,” she noted. "Yet Kenya's last census recorded just 2.2 per cent. That gap isn't coincidence; it's exclusion."
The implications, she argued, are severe. "People don't disappear—they are left out. And when communities are undercounted, they are underfunded and overlooked," she said. "Kenya needs robust, inclusive disability data, because if we are not counted, we do not count."
Her advocacy in Parliament has focused on closing the gap between constitutional promises and lived reality. She has been instrumental in pushing for the implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act, advocating for the five per cent procurement quota for enterprises owned by persons with disabilities, and championing inclusive education bills.
Her work consistently highlights failures in access to healthcare, employment, and public participation. "On this International Day of Minorities, let's stop agonising and start organising," she urged. "Inclusion must move from applause to action."
A national reckoning
Senator Asige's call for deliberate inclusion found strong echoes in the official statement released by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) to commemorate the day.
The statement, signed by Chairperson Rehema Jaldesa, reaffirmed the occasion as an opportunity to "reaffirm our shared commitment to equality, dignity, and inclusion of minority and marginalised communities."
It painted a sobering picture of the structural challenges facing many groups across Kenya—pastoralists, forest dwellers, fishing communities, and hunter-gatherers among them.
"These inequalities reflect in various ways: limited access to land and natural resources, insufficient representation in governance, socioeconomic marginalisation, and heightened vulnerability to climate change, conflict, and displacement," the statement read, noting that minority-dominated areas face limited investment in crucial services.
The Commission pointed specifically to gender-specific vulnerabilities that negatively impact women and girls within minority groups. It also expressed concern about cultural erosion, warning that "minority languages, traditional knowledge systems, and livelihoods are threatened".
Yet the NGEC also acknowledged progress: the drafting of a policy and bill on ethnic minorities, increased investments in minority regions, the establishment of the Minorities and Marginalised Affairs Unit under the Presidency, and the formal recognition of previously stateless groups.
"The Commission affirms that safeguarding the rights of minorities is not just a constitutional duty but a fundamental human right," the statement concluded, celebrating "the strength, wisdom, and contributions of Kenya's minority communities."
From gesture to system
The threads connecting these moments—a former president's visual description, a senator's data-driven advocacy, a commission's systemic analysis—point toward a unified demand: that inclusion must be conscious, continuous, and embedded at every level.
Ms Asige's example with former President Kenyatta demonstrates inclusion in leadership and communication. Her census argument reveals the necessity of inclusion in data and planning. The NGEC's advocacy underscores the importance of inclusion in legislation, resource allocation, and cultural preservation.
The commission's recommendations offer a roadmap: sustained political commitment and funding, inclusive development planning, safeguarding of cultures and languages, and increased involvement of minority organisations—with particular focus on women, youth, and persons with disabilities—in decision-making.
For Kenya, International Minority Rights Day presents a question that demands an answer. Will inclusion remain a periodic topic for speeches, or will it become, through intention and action, the default setting for how the country sees, counts, and serves all its people?
