Kenya's people of Indian descent are one of the oldest non-African communities in East Africa, with roots that predate Kenya's independence in 1963. For decades they were treated in law and politics as a resident minority rather than as a Kenyan community. That began to change on 21 July 2017, when a Gazette Notice issued under President Uhuru Kenyatta formally recognised Kenyans of Asian descent as the country's 44th tribe. The Makonde community had been recognised as the 43rd tribe only days earlier. Recognition as an indigenous community carries forward the same logic: it treats the community as native to Kenya rather than as settlers, which matters for identity documentation, cultural rights and political representation. Kenya's Speaker noted during the New Delhi visit that people of Indian origin are active in every walk of Kenyan life, including in Parliament and in government.