New technology slashes National ID waiting time to 10 days

The government has procured 600 digital live capture technology devices that allow new national identity cards to be issued in just 10 days, Principal Secretary for the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services Belio Kipsang has said.

The PS said the government has also aggressively scaled its digitisation 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 jurisdiction. 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,” he 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 digitisation 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.