North Eastern leaders want State to issue youths with identity cards

A cross-section of political leaders yesterday hit out at the Government over failure to issue thousands of youth in North Eastern with national identity cards.

Led by Fino ward representative Saad Abajana, the leaders said failure to give the youths ID cards had made them an easy target for Al-Shabaab recruiters as they cannot get jobs.

"There are people who were born in this country and are 60 years old who have never owned a national identity card to proof their nationality," Mr Abajan said.

He said no identity cards had been issued in most parts of the County in the last two years, leaving many youth who had completed secondary education stranded in the villages even after getting admissions to universities and colleges.