Issuing of IDs to be speeded up
A plan to fast-track the issuing of ID cards ahead of the next General Election was announced on Wednesday.
The Treasury will release Sh400 million when the Supplementary Budget is presented to Parliament and another Sh948 million in June to speed up the process.
The Sh300 penalty for late replacement of old generation ID cards has been waived but those who lost their cards will be charged. (READ: Five million to get IDs before elections)
The measures were announced by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka after a meeting with acting Finance minister Njeru Githae, Immigration permanent secretary Emmanuel Kisombe and the director of National Registration, Mr Reuben Kimotho.
The VP said the requirement that married women should produce affidavits or are referred to their parents for registration would be waived.
“It is indeed unfair and unnecessary for women to travel all the way to where they come from and acquire affidavits from lawyers to enable them get the document,” said Mr Musyoka at a news conference at his Jogoo House offices in Nairobi.
“The government is therefore keen to speed up the process...New applications will be issued free of charge.”
Mr Musyoka said registration of persons in the diaspora had been launched. Registration in London will cover countries in Europe while that in Washington, US, will cover the rest of the Americas.
“The exercise will be rolled out to South Africa, Dubai and other parts of the world in due course,” the VP said.
But even as he promised that the government would speed up the process of issuance of IDs, he was disappointed that many of the documents still remained uncollected across the country.
Out of the 1.4 million cards that processed since September last year, thousands are yet to be collected at chiefs’ offices in various parts of the country.
The Immigration ministry say at least 260,000 processed cards that are yet to be collected by the applicants from their office in Nairobi and thousands of others in their offices countrywide.
“We now invite owners of such cards to collect them and for all unregistered persons to take advantage of the mobile registration countrywide to register,” he said.
Concerns have been raised that majority of youths will not vote in the coming general elections if the government does not speed up the processing of IDs, which the law require that citizens must have to register as a voters in Kenya.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission plans to increase the number of voters from the current 12.4 million to possibly 20 million voters.
The Immigration ministry put the number of Kenyans holding valid identity cards at 20.78 million.
It projects that 5 million Kenyans will require IDs before the 2012 general elections of which 3 million will be new applicants.
