Lawmakers asked to get youth IDs

Cord leader Raila Odinga has asked the coalition’s MPs to distribute identification cards lying uncollected at registration bureaus.

Mr Odinga said he was alarmed at the high number of ID cards remaining in the hands of the Registrar of Persons while many of the people who applied for them could not receive services that require identification.

He said the documents were not only important for elections but would also help the owners in their efforts to start businesses.

The Cord leader, speaking in Kisumu on Friday, said all MPs must make an effort to stop by Kipande House in Nairobi every Friday to get the documents while on their way to their constituencies.

These would later be distributed by the lawmakers in their constituencies, he said.

Data from the National Registration Bureau indicates that 284,450 ID cards remained uncollected countrywide as of the end of July.

Of these, about 62,000 were for Nairobi residents, 44,900 for Nyanza’s and 36,700 for the people of central Kenya.

Another 28,220 cards were uncollected at the Coast, while some 32,000 for the eastern and 6,053 for northeastern regions were yet to be picked up by their owners.

“I have been informed that many people don’t have IDs yet they had registered for them.

“MPs must now go to these offices and collect them. The law allows you (MPs) to do so,” said Mr Odinga when he addressed sugarcane farmers on Friday in Chemelil.