Kenya's Indian community now recognized as local tribe

NAIROBI: Kenyans of Indian descent are now recognized as the country's 44th tribe according to a declaration signed by the president, a government minister said Saturday.
Kenya's Indian community has contributed to Kenya's development through their "great sense of civic duty," interior minister Fred Matiangi said during a celebration to mark the event.
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the legal notice Friday.
The recognition of Indians as a tribe was in line with the constitutional rights to language and cultural identity, said Matiangi.
Critics say the move is part of Kenyatta's electioneering ahead of August's vote.
Activist Farah Manzoor has petitioned the Kenyan government for this gesture for five years.
Roughly 32,000 Indian labourers first came to the region toward the end of the 19th century to build the Kenya-Uganda railway during the British colonial period.
During Kenya's liberation struggle, Indians who opposed British rule faced a harsh backlash from the colonial government.
Some chose to take up British citizenship, leaving the country.
Today there are over 100,000 Indians in Kenya.
The Kenyan Indian community is arguably country's wealthiest ethnic group, although they have not played a visible role in local politics.
It is hoped that recognition as a tribe will give them greater political representation in the east African nation of over 45 million people. — dpa