MPs reject Bill seeking to issue students with IDs, register them as voters

Uncollected national identity cards. House Committee says conducting mass registration during the school calendar risks disrupting learning. [File, Standard] 

The National Assembly has rejected a Bill that sought to ensure that secondary students who have attained the age of 18 were issued with national identity cards and registered as voters while still in school.

The Registration of Persons (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was sponsored by Suba South MP Caroli Omondi, sought to amend Section 107 of the Registration of Persons Act to allow for the registration of eligible students in secondary schools.

A House Committee has, however, recommended the Bill’s rejection, arguing that conducting mass registration during the school calendar period risks disrupting learning activities in schools.

The National Assembly’s Administration and Internal Security Committee also argued that limiting the programme to secondary school students indirectly excludes other eligible persons, including out-of-school youth, persons in vocational training institutions and persons in informal education.

“The Committee, having considered the Registration of Persons (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 52 of 2025) and the submissions from members of the public and stakeholders, recommends that the House rejects the Bill in its entirety,” reads a report of the committee tabled before the House.

The Bill had proposed that the principal registrar conduct a national registration for secondary school students every year, with the deadline for the undertaking being the last day of August.

"The principal registrar shall by the last day of August each year, conduct a national registration programme to register all secondary school students eligible for registration as of the close of the programme," read the Bill in part.

The registrar was then required to collect all the necessary details from eligible students between September and December each year to complete the registration process.

"The principal registrar shall collect the particulars required under section 5 (1) from all secondary school students eligible for registration between the date after the close of the programme and the last day of the month of December each year for the purpose of registration," added the Bill.

Under the proposed law, students who qualify for registration and issuance of the identity cards were not be charged and would have the IDs delivered to their schools or a designated location if they have already graduated.

"The principal registrar shall cause an identity card to be issued under the national registration programme to be delivered for collection free of charge," it further reads.

If passed, the Bill would have played a significant role in increasing the number of registered voters by approximately 1 million each year.

Further the Bill sought to simplify the ID acquisition process for the hundreds of thousands transitioning from secondary school to universities and where the identification card is a necessity for placement with the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).

Its passage and implementation would have also inadvertently simplified the work of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) which has long struggled with the registration of youth as new voters.

The committee, however, in its report challenged the proposal requiring the Principal Registrar to register all eligible secondary school students, noting that it was not inconsistent with the requirements specified under section 6(1) of the Registration of Persons Act. The MP Gabriel Tongoyo-led committee held that the concept of eligibility under the Act means the subject who is the student must first have attained 18 years to be registered.

“The Act obligates persons to present themselves before a registration officer for registration. The registration officers had to go to schools administratively for those who are eligible to register to appear before them; there is therefore no gap in the law,” reads the report.

It further stated that the low registration of persons after they attain the age of eighteen is an implementation challenge and not a legislative gap.

“This may be more appropriately addressed through policy directives, administrative reforms, additional funding, public awareness and improved service delivery mechanisms by the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, instead of amending the Act,” the report adds.