Candidates sitting for this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will receive the new Maisha Card before the end of the examination, said Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok.
In a statement on Tuesday, October 22, Bitok explained that the issuance of ID cards to candidates aged 18 and above among the 965,000 registrants aims to facilitate access to university education and other tertiary institutions.
He told the National Assembly’s Education, Research and Technology committee that the joint effort by the ministries of Interior and Education ensures students who join universities and colleges are not disadvantaged by missing identification documents.
“We have mobilised our registration officers across the country to issue Maisha Cards to eligible candidates to enable those who qualify to join local or international universities, apply for Higher Education Loans Board, scholarships and other post-high school pursuits,” noted Bitok.
He further revealed that a paperless Maisha Card registration process is being piloted in Huduma Centres and National Registration Bureau offices in county headquarters to ensure the cards are issued within 10 days.
“We’ve gone paperless. You apply for your ID on the eCitizen portal, then visit any Huduma Centre or NRB county office for your biometrics, which will be relayed in real-time to the NRB headquarters in Nairobi,” he added.
Members of the Julius Melly-led committee inquired about measures taken to address delays in issuing ID cards for candidates seeking to join universities and other tertiary institutions earlier this year.
“We have had a problem obtaining IDs by those who qualify to join universities. Without IDs, they cannot access HELB, loans or scholarships. How far are you in ensuring students access IDs on time?”posed Tinderet MP Julius Melly.
Bitok attributed the delays to several court injunctions that halted the government's issuance of Maisha Cards and caused a backlog of 600,000 unprinted cards.
He explained that the government successfully filed to lift these orders and cleared the backlog by investing in a new printer and introducing a 24-hour work schedule.
“Our average daily applications are around 10,000, but we have a total printing capacity of 32,000. So far, we have printed over 1.8 million cards, of which 1.29 million have been collected,” said Bitok.
He appealed to applicants to collect over 569,000 cards, noting that those whose IDs are ready have been identified through Short Message Services (SMS).
Responding to MPs’ concerns about loan applicants facing challenges with applications for HELB due to an extra digit on the Maisha Card, Bitok stated that the lender’s portal has been reconfigured to ensure compatibility.
