Soon, we will give national identity cards to newborns

By Michael Oriedo

Soon, we will give national identity cards to newborns

To a teenager, an identity card is a very crucial document, not in the sense that it will help them conduct some official business. An ID card is a tool of empowerment of sorts.

Getting the much-sought card, to them, is a rite of passage. It transforms one from childhood to adulthood. Put it differently, in most teenagers minds, it gives one a right to drink alcohol and engage in other nefarious activities associated with adulthood.

That is why Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’s announcement that the Government is working hard to ensure 12-year-olds acquire ID cards is a cause for worry. And the reason behind the move raises even more suspicions.

The minister notes that at 12, one’s thumbprint is developed therefore, should be given an ID card. Giving children the card just because their fingerprints have developed, if you ask PointBlank, is pedestrian.

After 12-year-olds, will Kajwang’ go for newborns? Why can’t the resources be used to ensure getting the documents for those who hit 18 is a smooth process devoid of graft, as many PointBlank readers have observed.

 

Is Kewu sitting on Sh409,177 payment?

When one hears about  trade unions, what comes to mind is the haki yetu (our rights) song. This is because the institutions fight for peoples’ rights, which include salary increments.

But Mr Ben Molo, a member of a group of seven former employees of Hasika Enterprises in Kisumu believes Kenya Engineering Workers’ Union (Kewu), which is under Central Organisation of  Trade Union,  has failed them.

“Having been summarily dismissed by our employer after discovering we had joined Kewu, the union took the matter to Industrial Court,” he recounts.

The suit (NO. 324 of 2009) was heard and the court ruled the employees should be paid Sh409,177, claims Molo, who resides in Kisumu.

“We have made endless trips to Kewu’s offices in vain. Every time we go there, we are told they are still waiting for a court decree, which they will serve our former employer. How long does it take to issue the decree?” he poses.

Now, Molo is convinced that they are being taken for a ride. “It is ten years since we were dismissed. Our lives have not moved on. We want the matter concluded,” he begs.

 

Exam woes dim Knec’s client career

It is over four years since Addah Adhiambo graduated from Mosoriot Teachers Training College (MTTC). But she says she has nothing to show she is a qualified teacher. “I do not know my results to date,” says Adhiambo, whose index number was 52105426. Adhiambo recounts her woes started when she went to collect her results from the college.

“A computer sheet indicated that I had missed my PTE papers yet I sat for them. I complained and the college gave me a letter to present to Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) in Nairobi,” she says. Knec, she claims, told her Continuous Assessment Tests (CAT) marks were missing from their records. Adhiambo narrates she informed MTTC the anomaly. “The dean of curriculum requested for Sh1,000 for delivery of my CAT results to Knec. I sent the money on July 19, last year transaction number BNISPJ41,” she recounts.

When she inquired from the college last month, Adhiambo says she was informed she failed  four subjects hence she cannotget a certificate. “Can it take Knec four years to realise that I had failed my exams? Why was the institution requesting for my CAT results if I had actually failed?” Adhiambo wants Knec CEO Paul Wasanga to intervene. Her contact is 0713523817.

 

Facebook should rescue councillors

Mr Patrick Kamotho lauds acting Minister for Local Government Fred Gumo’s recent remarks that all civic leaders must report regularly in offices in their localities.

“In my area, Muthurwa-Shauri Moyo ward, we have spent over four years without ever seeing our civic leader. He is not even traceable at City hall,” he claims.

However, Kamotho does not blame the civic leader. He notes that councillors do not have offices in regions they represent. To solve the problem, he suggests councillors should open offices on Facebook where they can engage their subjects.

 

DON’T YOU FORGET

Has KCB unmasked con woman in banking hall?

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Machakos branch customer Shadrack Kioko wrote to PointBlank on June 27 claiming his cashier was conned Sh50,000 inside the bank. Kioko noted the employee was conned by an elderly woman who approached her in the banking hall as she was filling a deposit slip.

“I raised the matter with the bank manager, wondering how such a thing could happen. The manager was unco-operative and told me to go and report to the police, which I did.” Kioko further claimed that there have been a number of similar cases in the same bank “and mostly customers don’t get any help”. He requested the bank to use CCTV cameras to identify the woman so that the con game can be stopped to curb cases of fraud. Did KCB find out who the elderly con was and take action?