The government has procured 600 digital live capture technology devices that now allow new national identity cards to be issued in just 10 days, Principal Secretary for State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services Prof. Belio Kipsang has said.
The PS said the government has also aggressively scaled its digitization drive, with over 24,000 services to the public now onboarded onto the e-Citizen platform, enabling Kenyans to access vital services effectively.
Speaking in Kakamega during a sensitization engagement for National Government Administration and National Bureau Registration and Immigration officers’ forum held at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kipsang said Kenyans in Nairobi can receive their national identity cards in one day, while processing times for new applications in other regions and rural counties have been reduced to only 10 days
“This has been made possible by the deployment of live-capture biometric equipment that instantly transmits data to the central processing center in Nairobi, and after verification of the details, the identity cards are printed,” he added.
The PS said processing of passports has also been expedited and is now issued in a record seven days.
“After the cessation of vetting, the government formulated new guidelines, and assistant chiefs, chiefs, and other NGAO officers are very critical in the identification of persons within their areas of jurisdictions. This is why we have organized this sensitization workshop to bring them to speed with the new guidelines,” he said.
The PS allayed fears of Kenyan identification cards being issued to foreigners and assured that the issuance of standard IDs is strictly for Kenyans, while non-citizens receive distinct alien identification documents to access services.
“The integrity of our documents is safeguarded and goes through a validation system under a multi-agency approach,” added.
He said Kenyans are highly digitally savvy, adding that the onboarding of key services, including registration and printing of birth certificates online, will ensure critical services are easily accessible to the members of the public.
Speaking at the forum, Regional Coordinator for Civil Registration Hesbon Odhiambo said the government has stepped up public sensitization on Civil Registration and Digital Identity (CRDI) to increase birth and death registration, devolve services effectively, and enhance the country’s digital transformation agenda.
He said although birth and death registration had improved over the years, more efforts were needed to achieve full registration.
He said that although Kakamega County’s birth registration rate of seventy-six point eight percent is slightly lower than the national average of seventy-seven percent, it is attributed to high registration uptake among female parents.
He added that the county has achieved sixty-four per cent in death registration compared to the national average of forty-six per cent.
Mr. Odhiambo observed that birth and death registration is pivotal to providing essential data and maintaining official records for future use.
“The provision of civil registration officers in all sub-counties in Kakamega is a big step towards enhancing access to civil registration services,” he added.
Integrated Population Registration System (IPRS) Secretary Judith Kilobi said the government’s digitalization has made significant strides in ensuring citizens have easier access to information through both public and private sectors.
Kilobi noted that over eight hundred organizations had been integrated into the platform. These include banks, insurance companies, Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs), telecommunication companies, and employment agencies, to enable citizen verification without delays.
“The digital transformation programme has made government services easily accessible and provided accurate population data for planning,” she added.
Kilobi also applauded the Government’s digital transformation mission, noting that the reforms had facilitated access to, and augmentation of, national census information.
Speaking on behalf of the Director General of Immigration, Immigration Officer Barnabas Masika of Bungoma called on NGAO officers to exercise diligence when vetting for identity cards to ensure the national identification process was not abused.
“If you are slack, we could be issuing the IDs to the wrong,” he warned. You should insist on original documents during the vetting exercise,” he added.
He commended the government for introducing e-Citizen services, stating that the platform has made it easy to access services such as passports and birth certificates.
He further explained citizenship registration fees, which are Sh 1 million for applicants who have lived in Kenya for more than seven years, Sh 100,000 for applicants married to a Kenyan, and Sh 50,000 for East African Community citizens married to Kenyans.
E-Citizen Services Director General Ambassador Isaac Ochieng also attended the function.
By George Kaiga and Paul Nyokech
