Kenya: Applicants to Receive National Identity Cards Within 3 Weeks - Bitok

10 May 2023
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Bruhan Makong

Nairobi — Applicants for new national identity cards will now receive them within three weeks as the government moves to fast-track the issuance of the vital document.

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the 21-day processing timeline was especially meant to hasten the issuance of IDs in Mandera and other border counties.

Speaking in Lafey, Mandera County, during the opening of the Civil Registration Services (CRS) office for the issuance of birth and death certificates, the PS said the directive is also meant to clear the backlog of pending applications.

"We are determined to make it easier for citizens to obtain important services including IDs and other documents. We have therefore directed that no applicant will have to wait for more than 21days from the date of application to receive his or her ID."

Same-day birth certificates

The pronouncement by the PS comes a week after he announced that birth certificates and death certificates will now be processed on the same day of application.

The newly opened office that will be serving Lafey sub-county is a welcome relief to residents who previously traveled long distances to what was the only civil registration office in the vast Mandera county.

"We are aware that our citizens have been spending over Ksh 5,000 travelling to Mandera and spending a lot of time to obtain birth certificates. We have now significantly reduced this inconvenience by opening a nearby office in Mandera," the Bitok said.

He urged the residents to take advantage of the new office that was funded by the Lafey Constituency Development Fund to obtain birth and death certificates and to raise the rate of registration compliance.

At 13 per cent and 6 per cent of birth and death registration respectively, Mandera has among the lowest rates in the country. The national average stands at 86 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.

The PS also issued for distribution over 1,500 IDs for Lafey residents that have been processed since April.

The function was attended by the area MP Abdirahman Mohammed Abdi and his Bura counterpart Yakub Adow.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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