A total of 2,203 identity cards remain uncollected at the Turkana County Huduma centre.
According to the centre manager, Yonah Nyawir, 2,091 are duplicates and replaced cards, while 112 cards are for first-time applicants.
Nyawir said first-time applicants are not required to pay any fee while applying for the cards as the government scrapped the Sh300 application fee for first time applicants early this year.
Those applying to replace their cards parts with Sh1,050 out of which Sh50 is for e-citizen services. “We are working with the national government administration officers to encourage the applicants to come and collect their identity cards,” said Nyawir.
He added that lists with names of the applicants whose cards are ready are shared with the chiefs to inform owners, revealing that it takes about three weeks for the cards to be processed and delivered to the Huduma office.
At the same time, the centre manager said civil registration officers are conducting outreaches to ensure more eligible youth get the crucial identification documents.
“A few weeks ago, we managed to register 216 youth in Kanamkemer ward, Turkana central sub county during an outreach in collaboration with the chiefs and officers from the registration office. A similar exercise is lined up for Napetet,” said Nyawir.
Long distances that the applicants have to cover to the Huduma centre is partly to blame for delays in collecting the documents.
However, plans are underway to establish Huduma centres with the Kakuma centre expected to be operational soon.
A site for the Turkana North Huduma centre has also been identified.
Identity cards are essential documents in securing employment, accessing some government services and voter cards.
By Peter Gitonga
