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{
    "id": 487828,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/487828/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 598,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kisoi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2350,
        "legal_name": "Michael Manthi Kisoi",
        "slug": "michael-manthi-kisoi"
    },
    "content": "completely difficult to access in this country. Issuing people with ID cards gives them the right to vote. When we deny our young people the right to access national ID cards, we deny them the right to exercise their constitutional right of voting. This Motion is essential because certain parts of this country have never been favoured with this exercise. They still lag behind very much. For example, Makueni County has only one vehicle, which is used by the Registrar of Persons. With six constituencies, you can imagine how difficult such a task can be. The people of Makueni are being denied their right to vote, because they cannot vote without being issued with national IDs. Therefore, the passage of this Motion will reassure Kenyans that their constitutional rights are safeguarded. I have some reservations about the three areas that hon. Diriye has narrowed down to – Wajir, Garissa and Mandera – and I would want him to widen the scope of his Motion to cover all the counties in the country. This is not an issue for only Wajir, Garissa and Mandera but an issue affecting the entire country. As we support this Motion, we should not forget that ID cards should be made easily accessible. The procedure and system that will be put in place has to be so effective that it will not, in any way, inconvenience any Kenyan. As many hon. Members alluded to in this House, this process has been used to victimise and extort money from young Kenyans, who are in dire need of getting registration certificates. It is through this Motion that we now want to put in place proper systems to ensure that this exercise is never used again by certain unscrupulous Kenyans to extort money from other Kenyans. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, in supporting this Bill, we must look for a way of providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the registration exercises. Without facilitating registration properly, we will not be doing anything that will be of any help. Some of these areas will require motor vehicles, offices and proper infrastructure. Without proper facilitation, we will not achieve our objective. Some Kenyans have to travel for quite long distances to access this simple but important service. The process should be simple, so that any Kenyan can access the national identification card. When we look at all these things, we also realize that this identification document is critical. In fact, I would really suggest that hon. Diriye considers in his amendment that, immediately after being issued with an identification card (ID), one should be issued with a personal identification number (PIN), so that this is not taken to be double entry. Immediately someone acquires the ID that person’s data should be deemed to have gone to the national registration bureau, where all details pertaining to that person can be accessed. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we also look at the issue of issuing PINs when we are issuing a person with an ID; this can also help this country in terms of revenue collection. There is a lot of money that this country is losing because we cannot track every Kenyan through the corporate world, individually, formally or informally. If this exercise of registering Kenyans is fast-tracked then I can assure you that revenue collection in this country will go up. Lastly, I wish to talk about the issue of security; if we are not able to trace every Kenyan and get their proper background, then we are at a loss as a country. This process of registering Kenyans has been abused in the past. People who were ineligible to get IDs now have them and that is why it has been very difficult for this country to identify every The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}