I still use my KANU card as ID, woman speaks of frustrations

Every time Sofia Hassan Koriyo travels outside Garissa County and is asked to produce her identity card, the granny flashes out her old laminated Kanu membership card since she does not have a national identity card.

The 69-year-old recounted to The Standard her unsuccessful attempts to acquire an ID. The woman is almost giving up on ever getting the important document after losing it decades back.

According to Sofia, the Kanu card acts as her official ID since it was given to her during Kenya’s one party rule, which she explained proves her being Kenyan.

“I remember I had an ID when I was issued with this card that everyone else was given. I lost my ID and tried to get it several times with no success,” she claimed in an interview at her home in Masalani sub-county.

Frustrated after failing to replace her ID, Sofia registered herself as a refugee in Dadaab hoping to get benefits accorded to refugees. But she did not stay long at the camp, and returned home in Masalani.

“Many a times when I show this card to police officers on the road, they laugh at it and ask me to proceed. I have never been arrested for lack of ID, however lack of the document has inconvenienced me since a cannot open an Mpesa shop neither am I eligible to cash meant for elderly people,” she said.

Like Sofia, hundreds of locals from the region experience difficulties in obtaining ID cards, which they attribute to “unnecessary” bureaucracy. 

Khasida Abdullahi, a programme manager for Haki Na Sheria, a non-governmental organisation that has been advocating for easy acquisition of citizenship, says its unfortunate that there are tens of thousands of Kenyans who are still undocumented because they lack ID cards.

With the introduction of Maisha Namba, which is a unique personal identification number assigned to every Kenyan citizen upon registration at birth, Khasida is worried that thousands of Kenyans from the northern frontier region risk being will be disenfranchised. 

“Communities have been facing discriminations in accessing IDs issued selectively. The government has been involved in discrimination practices such as skewed vetting of applicants,” she said.

According to Khasida, long distances, lack of electricity, limited registrations are some of the obstacles hindering acquisition of IDs in marginalised areas.

A case study inquiry report in Wajir launched in June by the Commission of Administration of Justice highlighted the problems citizens encounter when applying or replacing the vital document.