Kenya’s 43rd tribe was selected to hold a private meeting with Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi who arrived in Kenya on Wednesday.
Members of the Makonde tribe were accorded the honour of interacting with the visiting president to honour their acknowledged roots in Mozambique, where their forefathers are said to have migrated from in the 1930s.
Speaking during a joint presser with President Uhuru Kenyatta, President Nyusi registered appreciation for the Gazette notice that officially documented the Makonde as Kenyans.
“I’ve brought gratitude from the people of Mozambique to the government and people of Kenya for having declared the Makonde as the 43rd tribe,” the Mozambican president stated.
300 members of the community treked from Kwale to State House in 2016 seeking to have the government issue them with IDs and they were granted the request by President Kenyatta.
They participated in the 2017 General Election for the first time since their forefathers begun living in Kenya.
In response, President Uhuru stated: “Their intergration into Kenyan society is living proof of our commitment to intergrate the people of the Republic of Kenya, Mozambique and ultimately Africa.”
He further explained that President Nyusi’s state visit would serve to bolster plans to start importing petroleum gas and coal from the southern Africa state.
The two presidents signed a treaty that will now allow Kenyans to travel to Mozambique without a visa.
“We have agreed and signed an appropriate visa waiver framework between our two countries,”Kenyatta conveyed.
President Nyusi was received at JKIA by Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and later held discussions with Kenyan businessmen at the Villa Rosa Kempinski Hotel.