Embu County Commissioner Jack Obuo has appealed to residents to collect thousands of National Identity Cards (IDs) that remain unclaimed at various collection points across the county.
Obuo said approximately 13,000 ID cards were lying at various National Registration Bureau offices across the county as well as the Huduma Center located in Embu Town.
Speaking from his office on Tuesday, the CC said they are trying to ramp up efforts to ensure all the unclaimed IDs are collected by engaging local administrators, including chiefs and their assistants, to take the message to the people at the grassroots.
“This is a huge backlog we have of uncollected ID cards and we are appealing to applicants who had applied for them to make a point of collecting them without further delay,” he said.
He noted that the Data Protection Act does not allow them to use the local administrators to facilitate delivery to the rightful owners and the onus was on owners to go for them in person.
At the Embu West Sub-county bureau, close to 2,000 IDs are uncollected, with Registrar of Persons Philip Muthu saying they receive close to 500 processed ones weekly, leading to the huge backlog.
“We are appealing to all applicants to collect their IDs so that they can be able to enjoy and access government offices as well as register as voters for the first-time applicants,” he said.
At Huduma Center, there are 306 first-time IDs, 1,200 duplicates and 35 which have undergone a change of particulars, lying uncollected, according to Center Manager Ruth Wachera.
She, however, noted that the biggest backlog they have was on uncollected driving licences and birth certificates, numbering 4,000 and 3,000,respectively.
By Samuel Waititu
