Kenya: Govt Pushes for More Civil Registration Services in Counties

7 June 2024
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Wangechi Purity

Nairobi — The Civil Registration Services (CRS) department has committed to putting up a 3-year plan to ensure smooth operations of the offices in all 290 constituencies across the country.

Appearing before the Regional Development Committee, Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok stated that the department seeks to operationalize a total of 131 offices in the remaining constituencies yet to have civil registration offices in order to bring services closer to the public.

The department has civil registration services that are currently operational in only 159 sub-counties across the country.

"Honorable Chair, the Civil Registration Services are currently operational in 159 Sub-Counties against a possible 406 Sub-Counties countrywide. This is an increase of 34 Sub-County Offices since 2021," said PS Bitok.

He noted that in all the operational sub-counties, the department has established databases, although some are manual in nature.

"The Department has therefore embarked on the process of digitizing and automating its processes to ensure efficient storage, application and processing of certificates," he added.

PS Bitok revealed the civil registration department has implemented a web-based system to allow members of the public to be issued a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) (Maisha Namba) at birth.

The system will subsequently allow members of the public to apply for certificates online, make payments through eCitizen, and download their certificates.

The implementation of the system through the issuance of Maisha Namba, a unique personal identity that was challenged in court, will also allow for the integration of the civil registration database with other government databases to provide efficient service delivery.

Maragwa Member of Parliament Mary Wamaua, also the vice chairperson of the regional development committee, presented a motion in parliament urging the government to establish database centres in all civil registration centres for storing all the necessary information required for the issuance of birth certificates.

The motion was approved by the House on May 3, 2024.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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