After decades in legal limbo, Tanzanian widows married to Kenyans finally see hope
Elizabeth Bahati at her compound in Maweni village, Taveta Sub-county, Taita-Taveta County, on November 7, 2024. She came to Kenya in 1988, aged 13. She later married a Kenyan husband who died six years ago. She is among hundreds of Tanzanian women married to Kenyans to get documentation.
What you need to know:
- Tanzanian widows married to Kenyan men have been denied IDs for decades, leaving them unable to access pensions, property rights, or basic services despite raising Kenyan children.
- The women were trapped in legal limbo, forced to rely on temporary alien cards that required constant renewal.
- The government has now begun documenting these women in Taita Taveta County, finally offering them hope of obtaining national identity cards and full recognition.
For decades, they have lived as invisible citizens—Tanzanian women who married Kenyan men, raised Kenyan children, and called Kenya home, yet remained trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare that denied them the most basic of rights: an identity card.
These widows, caught between Tanzania's prohibition of dual citizenship and Kenya's complex registration requirements, have watched their children grow up as recognised Kenyan citizens whilst they themselves remained legally invisible. Unable to claim their deceased husbands' pensions, access social services, own property, or even open bank accounts, many have been forced into extreme poverty despite their decades-long contributions to Kenyan society.
Crucial document
But now, after years of advocacy and protest, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.
The predicament of these women first gained public attention last December when the Nation's gender desk published their story, lifting the lid on how they had found themselves trapped without basic rights despite having Kenyan children and having lived in the country for decades.
To obtain an identification card, individuals are required to possess a certificate of registration as a Kenyan citizen, which is normally issued by the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services. For these widows, this crucial document has remained frustratingly elusive.
According to Article 15 of the Constitution and Section 11 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act (2011), the women are eligible to acquire citizenship by marriage, which permits a foreign spouse to apply for citizenship after legally residing in the country for seven years.
Yet despite meeting these requirements, the women have been forced to rely on alien identification cards—foreign nationals' certificates issued by the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services. These documents are valid for only three years, forcing the women into a cycle of routine renewals.
The women now have reason to smile, however, as the government has begun the process of documenting Tanzanian women married to Kenyan men in Taita Taveta County.
"There are many cross-border marriages that have been taking place in the county that borders Tanzania, and we are working on programmes to ensure that foreign women are documented for registration purposes," confirmed Taita-Taveta County Commissioner Josephine Onunga in Voi town on Wednesday.
"The foreign women will soon be recognised and issued with identity cards," she added.
The initiative will ensure that foreign women married in the region are issued with national identity cards, enabling them to participate fully in nation-building. The National Government Administration (Ngao) and Immigration Department officers are spearheading the registration process.
For women like Elizabeth Bahati, the government's move represents a dream decades in the making.
"This is a dream come true for us—something that has been long overdue," she told the Nation. "We are calling on the government to expedite the process to issue IDs and other vital documents to us. We have waited for them for decades."
Elizabeth's story encapsulates the struggle of many such women. She married her late husband when the late Daniel Moi was President—decades ago—yet for all those years, she has been fighting to obtain an ID card to no avail.
Economic prospects
"Many people, and especially widows, have died whilst still pushing to be issued with IDs," she said. "I am, however, happy that the government has finally decided to recognise us officially. My only prayer is that they expedite the process."
Despite her decades-long struggle, Elizabeth noted that all her children were issued with identity cards—a bitter irony that highlights the contradictions in the system.
The government recently conducted a census of all widows from neighbouring countries who are married to Kenyans, a move that Elizabeth and others see as a positive step forward.
With identity cards, these women will finally be able to access financial services that have been denied to them for years. Elizabeth explained how the documentation would transform her economic prospects.
"With the ID cards, I will now be able to save in a Sacco and take soft loans to expand my business, or borrow money from affirmative action funds like the Women Enterprise Fund and Uwezo Fund," she said.
Cross-border marriages have been increasing at various border points across the country, making the documentation of foreign spouses an increasingly pressing issue. Last year, the widows protested to the county government about being denied identity cards due to the lack of certificates of registration, highlighting the urgent need for systemic change.
