Parents of ‘stateless’ man told to lodge appeal

Musoma. Parents of the man at the centre of a nationality dispute have been told to lodge an appeal with the Butiama district authorities for the matter to be heard.

The parents are querying a decision by the immigration authorities in Tanzania to brand their son a prohibited immigrant (PI). 

The Mara regional commissioner’s secretary Mr Alphonce Marwa confirmed yesterday that he met the parents of Mr Anudo Ochieng Anudo on Monday and advised them to report to the central authorities in Butiama where their son was reportedly born.

Mr Marwa said the parents reported their predicament concerning Anudo’s citizenship and that he urged them to go to Butiama and lodge an appeal against the PI.

The officer told The Citizen that the only person who can cancel the September 1 PI was the Commissioner for Immigration. He said the Butiama district commissioner’s officer will give them the letter of appeal after due process.

Separately the Mara Regional Immigration Officer Mr Alli Dadi maintained that their investigation shows that Mr Anudo was not Tanzanian and that he presented false information to obtain his passport.

Mr Dadi said his office carried out the investigation in Rorya and Butiama districts. He said they have interviewed the said parents over the same claim but found no reason to change their findings.

Speaking to The Citizen here, the mother of Mr Anudo, Ms Dorca Owuondo, 55, said that she gave birth to the son in 1979 at Masinono village where she lived with her former husband Mr Anderekus Anudo.  She reiterated that Anudo was the second child to be born in her family of five siblings, four of whom have since died. She has since remarried and has other children. She recalled two years ago that some immigration officials had interviewed her about someone called Otieno and not Anudo. “I told them that I did not have a son by that name but do not know how that is now being linked to my son Anudo,” she said.

Mr Anudo Ochieng Anudo was stranded at the no-man’s land on the Tanzania-Kenya border at Sirari since Saturday when he was rejected by authorities of the two East African countries.

He is now technically stateless, with Tanzania Immigration authorities maintaining he is an alien while their Kenyan counterparts insist they have no record to prove Mr Anudo was a citizen of that country.

Mr Anudo says he was born to Tanzanian parents and has been living and working in Manyara Region for years before he fell out with some Immigration officials, leading to the current woes.

His predicament has come full circle, from when he was arrested in Babati and dumped at Namanga border to finding himself homeless at Sirari after an appearance in a Kenyan court that ordered his repatriation.

On Saturday, he was handed over to the Tanzanian authorities that swiftly denied him entry.