Weed out rogue officers selling Kenyan ID cards

The issuance of a Kenyan identity card to a foreigner who vows that never requested it shines a spotlight on the rot in the office that bestowed this important responsibility. Bosnian national Zlatko Gegic told the High Court that he was given a Kenyan ID card after he requested a residence permit.

This is what Justice Roselyne Ekirapa Aburili warned that weaknesses in the country’s registration system threaten the integrity of citizenship documentation. 

The problem of issuance of Kenyan ID cards, passports and birth certificates to foreigners is not new. For years, wayward registration officials have been accused of dishing out identification documents to foreigners. 

In 2014, the current Health CS Aden Duale accused Senator Otieno Kajwang', now deceased, of issuing 500,000 crucial documents illegally during his tenure at the Ministry of Immigration.

While Duale never adduced evidence, foreigners have in the recent past been arrested bearing Kenyan identity documents. In 2025, Ayan Noor Hassan and Mohamed Moulid Mohamed were arrested at Tana Bridge with illegally acquired Kenyan birth certificates. The same day, Nima Hussein Elmi, a Somalia national was picked up at Mandera Airstrip with a Kenyan ID card. Early this year, Somalia national Assa Ali Issak was arrested with an application form for a Kenyan national identity card.

To make matters worse, even members of the Rapid Support Forces, which is fighting the Sudanese army, such as Algoney Hamdan Daglo Musa are said to possess Kenyan passports.

The Kenyan identity documents, it seems,are free for all. Some of those charged with ensuring that they are only issued to Kenyans and eligible foreigners have abdicated their duty due to pecuniary inducements. They have chosen to drag the Kenyan passport and ID card through the mud. They must be stopped.

The arrest of five National Registration Bureau officers in January over unlawful issuance of ID cards was a step in the right direction. Money hungry officers should not be allowed to ruin  Kenya.