President Uhuru Kenyatta orders registrar to embark on massive issuance of identification cards

President Uhuru Kenyatta

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered the National Bureau of Registration to establish satellite registration desks. He has also asked the body to speed up issuance of identification cards (IDs) to ensure Kenyan youth register as voters. He faulted the registration bureau for denying Kenyans their rights to nationality by delaying delivery of IDs to the youth who have attained the age of 18.

He warned the officials against referring applicants to their areas of birth to register as Kenyans, noting that every person should register at their area of residence and not where they were born. "Hatutaki kusikia hiyo maneno eti mnatuma watu kwenye walizaliwa (I do not want to hear that people are denied IDs because they apply in areas other than their homes). You must register them in areas where they are living," said Uhuru.

Reacting to sentiments raised by Laikipia East MP Anthony Mutahi who claimed that members of Borana and Somali communities were not being issued with IDs, the President ordered the bureau to establish satellite registration bases in all areas to facilitate issuance of the documents. The President blamed the low registration of voters in Central and other parts of the country to lack of IDs, saying the registrar should make necessary arrangements to ensure all deserving Kenyans are registered. Mr Mutahi had claimed that members of the Somali and Borana communities were being subjected to a hectic vetting processes and end up not getting the documents.

Uhuru spoke during Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri's homecoming at Nanyuki Stadium in Laikipia County, yesterday. He at the same time ordered Interior Coordination Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery to crack the whip on cattle rustlers who have been wrecking havoc and causing deaths along Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu borders. The president said Kenyans have a right to live and own property anywhere in Kenya, and the Government will not entertain those out to cause disharmony.