The Legal Aid Act (No. 6 of 2016) lists stateless persons among those entitled to state-funded legal aid. However, the Legal Aid (General) Regulations (No. 86 of 2022) require every applicant to produce payslips, tax returns, and asset records before their application can be considered. Stateless persons, such as the Nubian community in Kenya, who often live outside the formal systems that generate these documents, find it impossible to meet these requirements.

“Ignorance of the law is not a defence to me, doesn’t make sense. The Accused should know what they have been accused of and how they are going to defend themselves when they appear in court.”^[1]

Three months ago, the Centre for Legal Aid and Clinical Legal Education (CLACLE), Kabarak University Law Clinic, issued a Call for Submissions for the CLACLE Blog Symposium 2026: Legal Aid Act @10 – Successes, Challenges, and the Future of Access to Justice in Kenya.^[1]