Five million to get IDs before elections

Five million Kenyans will have received their national identity cards before the next General Election, a Cabinet minister has said.

The Treasury had released Sh1.3 billion to facilitate the exercise, Immigration and Registration of Persons minister Otieno Kajwang’ said on Thursday.

Mr Kajwang’ said the money would be used to buy raw materials, employ more people and procure vehicles.

Speaking in Lari, Kiambu County, during the launch of second generation ID cards and mobile registration of persons, the minister said his ministry had the capacity of processing up to 60,000 ID cards per day.

However, he lamented that most people were not collecting their cards after registering.

He said 1.2 million cards were uncollected from various offices.

The minister also said that he would be seeking to amend the law to allow the registration of persons from the age of 16.

But 16-year-olds would not be allowed to vote until they reached 18. “I will persuade MPs to pass a Bill that I am preparing so that we can start registering people from the age of 16. This will be good for planning and statistics,” he said.

In future, he said, they were considering introducing new cards, which would have more details about the holder.

“The IDs will have the name, address, NHIF and NSSF numbers, and driving licence details so that a person will not have to carry so many cards,” he said.

Lari MP David Njuguna urged Kenyans aged over 18 to acquire the ID cards so that they can exercise their democratic right to vote during the next elections.