Not having an ID is a serious offence

By Wahome Thuku

With the crackdown of the Al Shabaab adherents and foreigners in Kenya, one documents is very critical — the national Identity Card (ID).

Besides enabling you to transact business daily and to vote in national elections, there are a number of things you ought to know about an ID.

Registration of Persons Act Cap 107 governs the registration of person and issuance with an ID. Under section 6 of this law, every Kenyan citizen above 18 years must be registered and issued with an ID. You are required to present yourself before a registration officer within 90 days of attaining that age.

If you attain 18 years while out of the country you must present yourself for registration within 30 days after returning to Kenya.

You are required to permit the officer to take down impressions of your fingers and thumb or toes or palms. Failure to register under this law is an offence, which attracts up to Sh15,000 fine or 18 months in jail or both. Giving false information either knowingly or recklessly when registering attracts a similar punishment.

Section 9(5) provides that every person to whom an identity card has been issued must keep it in safe custody. That means you can determine who should keep or even hold your card.

It’s an offence to unlawfully deprive any person of his or her identity card, especially for employers who confiscate their employees’ ID cards.

You have a right to be issued with a new card upon the loss of the current one on payment of prescribed fees. But if the registration officer is satisfied that the loss was not through your fault or neglect, the new identity card shall be issued free of charge.

Never try to obtain another ID card without disclosing to the registration officer the fact of the previous issue and the loss, mutilation or destruction of the previous one.

Except in such cases as may be prescribed, you must never permit anyone else to be in possession of your ID or use another person’s card.

Some agents charge fees for tracing lost IDs. That is an offence punishable by Sh15,000 fine or 18 months in jail.

Section 9(7) states, any person who finds, or who comes into possession of, an identity card which does not belong to him shall without undue delay and without charging any fee return it either to its owner or to the nearest registration officer or alternatively to the nearest police station.

You can only charge such fees with a written authority of the Principal Registrar. That is the law.