State denies discrimination over IDs

By Judy Ogutu

The State now wants the High Court to reject a petition by residents of North Eastern Province challenging the process of obtaining National Identity Cards.

Principal Registration Officer in the National Registration Bureau, John Muiwa Kinyumu, argued the case should be rejected since laws on citizenship are awaiting amendment, repeal and enactment.

In a sworn statement, he denied allegations by the petitioners that the application of Registration of Persons Act is discriminatory and arbitrary.

"The allegations by the petitioners that the application of the Act is discriminatory and arbitrary and that it results in the denial of citizens from Northern Kenya and North Eastern Province their rights as citizens of Kenya are not true, since the application of the Act is uniform," he says.

The Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC), Truth Be Told, Hussein Sora Foundation and five North Eastern residents want the Government to annul the registration requirements imposed on them.

According to them, residents seeking national identity cards are subjected to a rigorous process that sometimes takes years before one is issued with the card.

The process, according to the human rights groups involves vetting by several Government security apparatus aimed at ascertaining their originality.

The local chief

Any member of the Northern Eastern Somali community seeking for the ID has to be vetted by the local chief, the DO, National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS), Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and a panel of local elders.

In a petition filed at the High Court in Nairobi, the petitioners say the process is unlawful, arbitrary and discriminatory since it does not cut across other communities.

They argue that every person born in Kenya on attainment of 18 years is eligible for registration as a citizen under the Registration of Persons Act.

Kinyumu says vetting is a process established to assist in identifying bona fide citizens. "The process is not unique to Northern Kenya and North Eastern Province," he says.