Angry residents of Teso protest over failure to get IDs
Residents of Simba Chai in Amukura, Teso South gather outside the assistant sub-county commissioner’s office on February 8, 2017 protesting over delays in issuance of ID cards. PHOTO | GAITANO PESSA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- A police officer was hurt in the ensuing melee before calm was restored.
- A caravan on a voter mobilisation campaign was forced to abandon its mission following the confusion.
- Assistant County Commissioner Fredrick Ndubi said most applicants could not meet vetting criteria.
Police were Wednesday forced to shoot in the air and lob teargas canisters to disperse hundreds of angry residents of Simba Chai in Teso South, Busia County who were protesting after they were allegedly denied national Identity cards.
The residents claimed that registration officials at Amukura were demanding a Sh200 bribe before they could issue them with IDs while those who did not have birth certificates were denied application forms for the vital document.
A police officer was hurt in the ensuing melee before calm was restored.
A caravan on a voter registration mobilisation campaign was forced to abandon its mission following the confusion.
“Some of us applied for Identity cards as early as December last year but until now we are yet to get them. The chiefs and their assistants are just telling us to be patient and we are tired of their explanations. We feel this is a plot to deny us [our] right to vote,” said Mr Andrew Amuche, a resident.
RIGHT TO BE REGISTERED
Ms Risper Akiteng’, 30, said: “It is a pity that police can hit a seven-year-old child with club until she bleeds in the name of dispersing a crowd. We have a right to get those documents and I don’t see the reason why innocent people should be engaged in such unnecessary battles.”
However, Assistant County Commissioner Fredrick Ndubi said they had not denied the residents IDs insisting that most of them could not meet vetting criteria.
“This being a border sub-county our mandate is to vet all applicants thoroughly.
“By around 3.30pm we had vetted around 733 people from five of the seven locations before a local MCA (Patrick Wambo) stormed in with a group of people who are alleged [they] had been denied registration,” said Mr Ndubi.
“These were people who are over 25 year of age and without necessary documentation whose cases were supposed to be followed with urgency in line with government policy on application and issuance of IDs,” he said.
After a brief meeting with local leaders, the two sides agreed that those with birth certificates will be vetted Thursday at the Registrar of Persons’ office in Amukura while those over 25 years will have to be re-vetted by the sub-county security and intelligence committee.
