How New ID Registration Guidelines Will Affect Issuance
New ID Registration guidelines elicit mixed reactions as the civil rights groups oppose the guidelines.
The new guidelines allows Kenyans living in border, cosmopolitan, and settlement counties to acquire national identification cards without undergoing through Vetting.
This is in line with President William Ruto’s directives that scrapped the requirement on April 8, 2024.
The Vetting process has always seen applicants mainly the Asians, Arabs and Nubians who are not considered ‘indigenous’ communities, being required to provide proof of Kenyan citizenship to be issued with ID cards.
According to president Ruto processes have been discriminatory and ID issuing should not be based on religion or region.
On April 29, the CS interior released a set of reviewed guidelines on the issuance of ID cards attracting stiff opposition by civil rights organisations and community-based organizations.
Haki Centre, the Nubian Rights Forum, Paranet, Namati Kenya, Haki na Sheri Initiative have opposed the new guidelines arguing that the government risks replicating the arbitrary and discretionary nature of vetting in the new registration guidelines.
How New ID Registration Guidelines Will Affect Issuance Of Ids
They include:
- All identification (vetting) committees shall cease to be effective from May 1, 2024
- All applicants for registration of National Identity Card shall be registered in their home counties or place of permanent residence for ease of identification.
- The applicant shall produce a chief’s introduction letter to confirm residence.
- Applicants from institutions of learning in border areas or communities shall provide a birth certificate and parent’s ID card. All information should be validated by the institution’s head
- Registration officers shall submit copies of birth certificates presented as support documents to the local civil registration officer for verification and returned within 5 days.
- Applicants shall prove citizenship by providing a parent’s ID card or certificate of registration proving Kenyan citizenship.
- Where parents are deceased, applicants shall produce death certificates or an ID of a biological relative. They will authenticate the applicant by embossing their Left Thumb Print (LTP) or the RTP on the registration form.
- A registration officer shall liase with security agencies to prevent illegal registration. A list of all registered applications shall then be submitted weekly to the National Intelligence Services (NIS) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for due diligence.
- A registration officer shall also verify the application by signing and sealing registration forms provided in CAP 107 of the constitution.
The organizations now claim that because of the historical inequity of vetting, millions of Kenyans do not now have documents and that the new standards do not address their access to identity.
The organizations have requested the government to remove all of the established regulations in order to better streamline the ID issue procedure.
They seek to end all types of ID vetting and discriminatory treatment of ID applicants, to enshrine legislation governing the process of obtaining identification, and to do away with the discretionary authority to initiate ad hoc investigations or review panels.
Additionally, they favor increasing the number of registration and identity offices, particularly in Kenya’s underprivileged regions.
How New ID Registration Guidelines Will Affect Issuance Of Ids
