Registration agency denies selling IDs in northern Kenya

Mumia Kisabuli said such a thing would not be possible as the issuance of IDs at border towns is a multi-agency affair/FELIX MAGARA

On Friday, the Bureau’s Deputy Director Mumia Kisabuli said such a thing would not be possible as the issuance of IDs at border towns is a multi-agency affair.

He explained that the bureau works with community elders, anti-corruption officers and even intelligence officers when issuing IDs in border towns.

“The Department of National Registration Bureau in carrying out registration does out this process as a team with other players; government institutions and non-government institution but particularly the elders and it’s not a one departmental action.”

Kisabuli said the NRB adopted these procedures in October of 2012 when concern arose that terrorists were taking advantage of the refugee camps in the North to access Kenya, blend in with the residents and obtain Kenyan citizenship.

“There was a need to review and synchronise what was happening alongside the concerns which were there owing to the pressure of individuals who were infiltrating into the country particularly through the refugee camps.”

Kisabuli went on to explain that the man arrested on Sunday in Garissa with 32 IDs did not obtain them from the bureau’s officers, “An individual possessing another person’s identity card cannot be attributed to the NRB as having been the cause of that possession of the identity cards.”

He did however call on the public to report any demands for bribes when applying for IDs as the process should cost nothing except in the event that details require changing.

“If there is a fear that our officers are compromised don’t go to our offices then. Please report to the police. We also have got representatives of (the Ethics and) Anti-Corruption Commission out there in the field. Please report to them,” he said.

“Ask Kenyans to report. Let them not shy away and then start saying our officers have sold ID cards and they do not assist their administrative units to clean those who are compromised.”

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had on Tuesday called for harsh punishment of those who sell national identification documents to aliens.

Odinga made the call in the face of last month’s terror attack on Westgate mall during which 61 civilians and 6 security agents were killed.

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

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