Homeland and origins
The Pemba are Swahili-speaking fishing families from Pemba Island, Zanzibar, who have lived in Kwale and Kilifi on the Kenyan coast since before the Second World War.
Language
The Pemba speak Kiswahili. Scholars disagree on whether the Pemba, like the Bajuni, are a Swahili sub-group or a distinct community.
Recognition
Like several communities that arrived before independence, the Pemba spent decades without recognition or identity documents. A gazette notice dated January 30, 2023 recognized them as an ethnic community and ordered identity documents issued, and about 7,000 people benefited. Press reports number them Kenya's "46th tribe", though the Wayyu were also announced as the 46th.
Further reading
- Knowing Ethnicity: Politics, Classification and Pluralism in Kenya, Samantha Balaton-Chrimes (2026)
Sources
- The Star: Not yet uhuru for stateless Pemba
- Kenyans.co.ke: the Pemba gazette notice
- Statelessness Hub: Kenya
From The Peoples of Kenya: An Ethnographic Reference (Kenya Experience, November 2026), a synthesis of published sources. Practices described as traditional are historical baselines; today most Kenyans are Christian or Muslim, live in or near towns and speak Swahili and English. Spot something to correct? Write to kibetck@kenyaexperience.org.
