ID'S

ID CARDS.
JANE MUGAMBI 1ST MARCH 2010.
OVER 7000 Identification cards are lying at the Kirinyaga District registration offices.
District Immigration and registration of person’s officer Mukora Muriungi said that the major cause of backlog of the Id’s is as a result of the applicants not picking them.
He said that the youths apply for duplicates pretending that the original has gotten lost a mostly when they are looking for jobs citing the recruitment of the police forces where after apply and not being succefull, they do not collect them.
Mr. Muriungi added that some have been in the desk for more than two years saying that they have ben using the provincial administration where the owners can pick them from their offices.
He went on to say that the application is very fast saying that the office is processing in two to three weeks saying that the rate in which they are collect is very slow.
“Applications are very active to but at the office is encountering a very dormant situation when it comes to collect the Id’s pilling them”added Muriungi.
He said that the applicants have the mandate to ease the congestion by picking them and giving space to new applications to avert a mix up.
He however said that some people still have the 1st generation Id’s which are barring them from getting services saying that the office is open for them to renew and stop using brokers who are cheating the elderly for exploitation.
Mr.Muriungi added that some children have been adopting names which are not in their parents Id cards resulting to wastage of materials and double registration.
“Parents should get concerned on the names that their children are using. If a child is of single mother, the mother should give a name that should coincide with the child’s Id to reduce wastage” He added.
Recently when the Immigration Minister Otieno Kanjwang’visited Kirinyaga central, he found the Id’s pilled up in the office waiting for the youths to collect them.
He said that the youths are complaining of delays yert they are the ones who are not collecting them.
Mr. Kajwang’ added that in the larger Kirinyaga, working in the office is below capacity saying that the workers should come out of the slumber.
He urged the youths to pick the ID’s to avert duplication, loss where later on they will complain that they are missing when in a rush.
He added that there is no service that does not need production of an ID card in Kenya .
The migration minister cited out that security has been beefed up to all those that do not have legal Id cards and are in the country illegally saying that all Kenyans are supposed to have ID cards as their way of identification.
He said that many have been in the country illegally after acquiring fake IDs and have seen aliens being illegally in the country.
He said that many people who are not supposed to be in Kenya have found a place in the country after getting fake Passports that are being issued by corrupt workers in exchange for money.
Mr. Kajwang’ said that through ICT, only Kenyans will be registered so as to keep aliens out as a way of beefing security.
He said that at the border, a system will be used to register those that are in the border to keep terrorists and other invaders from getting into our country.
“We have very many foreigners who have faked documents and are not supposed to be in the country” he said.
He said that without thorough registration on births, the ministry will not go far to eliminate crooks.
He said that by the end of the year, third generation cards will be out to avert duplication, forging and altering which has been the case.
He said his ministry has teamed up with the ministry of education, health to see that every child gets a birth certificate which has a registration number.
He disclosed that the ministry of education has come up with the introduction of candidates sitting for their KCSE exam with their birth certificates as a way of identification and to avoid cheating.
He urged health workers to cooperate in registering every kid that is born in a hospital and liaise with the civil registration office for the officers to collect the birth certificates so that they can feed vital information that is needed.
The minister said that Kirinyaga has a 46% registration which he termed it as poor compared with Thika which has 108% where he said that the registration is being done poorly.
Accompanying the minister is the area Mp Ngata Kariuki who said that unless his office is strict, very many aliens are in the district illegally.
On the Birth certificate, he said that the reason as to why parents are rushing at the wrong time due to ignorance and lack of concern.
Mr.Muriungi added that many parents are producing 1st generation ID where they have been in the office for more than three weeks but cannot get the certificate without the production of the 2nd generation ID.
“Parents are very ignorant, how can they wait to collect the certificate when the child is in form four, what have they been doing since birth” he added.
He said that parents should be very cautious when relaxing in some matters saying that what if the offices burnt down who could they have blamed.
“fire can break out any time and the parents cannot ask the office as to why their documents were in.They should be concerned and collect them in time” Mr.Muriungi commented.
ENDS…
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