It is evident that unskilled deliveries are still rampant in Tindiret sub county due to the combination of traditional conservatism and the sparsely distributed health facilities.
This scenario has made the turn out for the application for the birth certificates at the registration office to be low, characterized by an irregular pattern.
The Sub County Civil Registration Officer (SCCRO) Solomon Kiprop, has said they experience high enrollment during the time the applicants would be needing the document to register for the national examinations.
“During January to March, we record over 200 registrations per day, mainly from those intending to register for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) examination, but on other days the applicants are about just 10,” he said.
Kiprop added that in a bid to boost the numbers, his office has been able to carry out three mobile registration exercises across the area in the past eight months, where hundreds of the residents were enlisted for the important document.
The SCCRO stated that they have been liaising with the local administrators who assist in identifying undocumented potential applicants so that their documents could be processed.
The Registration Officer has appealed to the residents to go for certificates early enough, instead of waiting for the peak season, when children are about to enroll for examinations.
He also observed that the lack of birth certificates for children in most households is making it difficult to actualize the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) campaign, being administered by the Social Health Authority (SHA).
By Sammy Mwibanda
