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Residents in six Northern Kenya counties to receive IDs after 21 days

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 22 – Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizens Services Julius Bitok says residents of six counties in Northern Kenya will now receive Identification Documents 21 days after application.

These counties include Mandera, Garissa, Waji, Marsabit, Tana River and Isiolo.

Speaking during a meeting with North Eastern Kenya region Members of Parliament on Tuesday, Bitok said the government is working towards reviewing mandatory vetting of applicants.

“I want to announce that we will implement this in the Northern frontier counties so that all Kenyans will get their IDs without discrimination,” he said.

‘We will be determined to remove any obstacle that hinders the government to achieve the target of achieving 21 days as announced by the CS a month ago, and we are ready to achieve this as government.”

The PS also recommended that school-age children in the northern frontier counties receive IDs while they are enrolled in school to assist do away with the government’s vetting system.

He added that this changes to implemented do not need any legal amendment but only policy changes to be created for this to be achieved.

“If a child produces a birth certificate, and the ID of the father and the mother, then what is needed is to engage IPRS to confirm both parents are Kenyan, then there should be no reason why that child is denied an ID,” he said.

“Our objective here is to ensure we create a system that will end discrimination in issuance of IDs, Birth certificates and passports so that every Kenyan should feel that they are at home.”

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Additionally, the leaders urged the government to take the required steps to eliminate the vetting procedure, which had made it difficult for residents of the counties in Northern Kenya to get IDs, birth certificates, and passports.

Rasso Dido Ali the Chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus said that the pastoral communities in the North have experienced discrimination and that obtaining even the most basic of documentation has proven to be quite challenging for them.

He continued by saying that the groups face discrimination because they have always been viewed as foreigners and outcasts due to their origins in remote regions and transnational communities.

“Today we have come to discuss with ministry of immigration on doing away with vetting because the reason why our people have been denied the documents for 59 years since independence, is because we must go through a vetting process, “he said.

“A group of individuals have to decide whether to give us the documents or not however we want our people to be like other citizens, they be able to get birth certificates and IDs without going through many hurdles and without being discriminated.”

He said the government should consider the prevailing challenges the region is facing.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure speaking in Moyale One Stop Border on February, directed the National Registration Bureau to shorten the process to avoid delays to the young people in the larger Northern Kenya.

“No more inordinate delays to our young people in our border county of Marsabit and the larger Northern Kenya who have had to wait for years to get Identity cards,” said Interior CS Kithure Kindiki.

CS Kindiki said the government was on course to strengthen the capacity of the customs border post at Moyale one stop border to facilitate trade between Kenya and Ethiopia as they enhance border patrols to seal all loop holes of illegal trade and human trafficking.

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