John Ngirachu
10 September 2008
Nairobi — The law requiring Muslims to provide extra proof of nationality during application for national identity cards and passports is set for repeal.
Passport applicants will now only produce a national identity card and a birth certificate. The immigration and registration of persons' departments will also ensure that applicants who will have lost their ID cards are allowed to apply.
Residents of border districts could also benefit once the move to harmonise the rule is formalised.
Previously, they have been required to produce letters from an area chief or religious leaders who can confirm that they are Kenyans.
Announcing the proposed changes after meeting officials of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) on Wednesday, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang' said: "We have agreed that the rules should apply uniformly for everybody."
Mr Kajwang also assured that Muslims going to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage will get their travel documents in time.
The Registration of Persons Act empowers registration officers to ask for more proof of one's nationality before issuing the documents, a move the officials, led by national organising secretary Shariff Hussein Omar, said was discriminatory and oppressive.
Mr Omar said that in some cases, applicants aged over 50 had been asked to give their parents' birth or death certificates, making some to resort to fake documents.
However, Mr Kajwang' said that the applications would have to be made at the immigration department's offices in Nairobi, Mombasa or Kisumu since the new information system requires that the department's officers take the applicants' photographs.
Passports issued for Hajj can now also be used to travel to other parts of the world.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
