Kenyans in Diaspora to Get National IDs

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka during a press conference at his Jogoo house office in Nairobi on Wednesday

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has said the Government will issue National Identification Cards to Kenyans in the Diaspora in view of the dual citizenship provision in the constitution.

He revealed the exercise has begun in London and will cover countries in Europe while registration in Washington, USA will extend to the rest of Americas.

"This exercise will be rolled out to South Africa, Dubai, and other parts of the world in due course," said Kalonzo.

He said the Government has set aside Sh 400 million in this year’s supplementary budget to fast track the issuance of IDs to all eligible Kenyans.

He expressed concern that millions of youth are yet to acquire national ID’s to enable them transact day to day activities including participating in the forthcoming general elections.

" The Government is therefore keen to speed up the registration of persons countrywide," said Kalonzo.

He said the government will set aside a further Sh 948 million in the 2012-2013 financial year to facilitate the procurement and issuance of ID’s.

Kalonzo was speaking at his Jogoo House offices flanked by Permanent Secretaries Ludeki Chewya and Emmanuel Kisombe.

He reiterated that new ID’s are issued free of charge adding the Government has also waived the fees for replacement of first generation cards.

Kalonzo said that only persons who have lost their ID’s are required to pay Sh 300 for replacement.

He said that the requirement that married women should produce affidavits or are referred to their parents for registration has been waived in order to expedite the process and enrol as many Kenyans as possible.

Kalonzo lamented that out of the 1.4 million ID’s processed since last September, thousands remained uncollected at Chief’s offices countrywide.

‘We invite the owners to collect their cards and those who are unregistered to take advantage of the mobile registration going on across the country," said Kalonzo.

He assured Kenyans that the Government will issue ID cards to all eligible Kenyans.

Source: The Standard