Couple asks for Uhuru's help to get ID card
Uncollected identity cards on display at Huduma Centre in Kibera on January 24, 2017. A woman in Murang'a has claimed she has been denied the right to apply for an ID. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mary Jessica Atieno, 27, applied for the document in Murang’a County, where she is married, but was instructed to make the application in her birth district in Kisumu County.
- Moreover, Ms Atieno said she was once asked by a registrar why she is married to a man from the central Kenya region, which is dominated by Kikuyus.
A woman has claimed she has been denied the right to acquire a national identity card.
Mary Jessica Atieno, 27, applied for the document in Murang’a County, where she is married, but was instructed to make the application in her birth district in Kisumu County.
Her husband, Peter Mburu, said his wife was working in Kisumu, where they met, and they started cohabiting before relocating to Murang'a last year.
He said she first applied for an ID during last year's mass voter registration but was unable to though she had the required documents.
"Last year we went to apply, they said she had no parents' ID. I went to Kisumu and came with her mother’s ID since the dad had passed away. We were taken in circles so we gave up," he recalled.
Nevertheless, Mburu said his wife applied again this year, but when they "went to the registrar they told us our case is different, that we have to wait to be vetted by the area district county commissioner".
This is after they were given a letter by the assistant chief and directed to go to Gakuyu, where ID applications were being made.
The letter was to confirm that she has a genuine case because she is a resident.
"I was here at Gakuyu by 7am with my wife and young son, but when we went to the registrar they told us our case is different," he said.
Mburu, a casual labourer, suspects his wife is being discriminated against for being a Luo.
"We have all documents. For how long will my wife be without an ID? Let them tell us straight to our face that they are not issuing to other tribes instead of taking us in circles," he said.
Moreover, Ms Atieno said she was once asked by a registrar why she is married to a man from the central Kenya region, which is dominated by Kikuyus.
"I told her anyone is free to marry or get married anywhere he or she chooses.
"She became angry and chased me away, saying I go get my ID in Kisumu," she said.
Ms Atieno urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to address their issue.
"We ask President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene as we have suffered enough looking for that ID. We do not want tribalism and it does not mean that automatically my vote is for the opposition," she said.
The county registrar's office and the Kigumo Sub-County registrar of persons denied the claims.
