Twelve year-olds to own ID cards if Bill passes

By Joe Kiarie

Your twelve-year-old will soon have the right to own a national identity (ID) card if proposed amendments to the Registrations of Persons Act go through.

The possession of an ID card will not, however, give anyone below the age of 18 years the right to vote, marry, drive, take alcohol and enter discotheques.

According to Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang, a draft Bill containing the proposed amendments has already been forwarded to the Attorney General’s office from the ministry and could soon be tabled in Parliament for debate.

"We seriously considered these amendments after I was advised by technocrats that at the age of 12, the thumbprints of a person are as stable as those of an 18-year-old. We thus concluded that this is the right age to capture their data," he told The Standard on Sunday. The minister says the amendments will among other benefits abolish the current scenario where only people above 18 years can join public universities and polytechnics.

"This has been a very discriminative culture since we have many standard eight graduates and high school dropouts who cannot pursue higher education in polytechnics merely because they do not have ID cards," he says.

Kajwang says having as many Kenyan citizens as possible, complete with their thumbprints, in the ministry’s database will make it easier identifying victims of road accidents.

"For instance, if there is a bomb blast in which Kenyan citizens have been involved, the thumbprints in our database will make the identification of the victims easier. This too applies to victims of road accidents, fire, and drowning," he notes. Kajwang argues that early registration will also help address the backlog problem at the ministry and further simplify the identification of citizens from non-citizens.

A previous proposal by the minister to have 16-year-olds possess ID cards was met with widespread resistance over fears it would give students freedom to engage in immoral behaviour. But Kajwang says the opposition to the idea was political: "Most opponents claimed the move would permit 16-year-olds to go to discos and bars. But it was just a way of resisting change," he states.

He says that even if the amendments are approved, respective Acts that guide them will regulate issues such as marriage, driving and voting. "The Traffic Act clearly spells out who should drive while the Marriage Act spells out the age that one should marry. The same applies to voting," he affirms.

And for those who believe ID cards will generally spoil the Kenyan youth, the minister has a word for them. "An ID card is merely an identification document. Even school children have school ID cards but that does not grant them the right to riot, which they still do".