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{
    "id": 57347,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/57347/?format=api",
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    "content": "other chiefs, including our population in Ulum Location who have never seen an identity card. We have a problem. When those people go for the identity cards in Lodwar, which is another 250-kilometer away, if they are old men, they are told that they have to go and they look at their dental formula. If you tell an old man to open his mouth for his teeth to be counted; surely, Mr. Minister, why can you not pambana with such obvious things? How can a self-respecting Turkana elder be asked to open his mouth so that the officer can know how old he is in order for him to be issued with an identity card? Some of these requirements are colonial, draconian and do not give our people the dignity they deserve. When Mr. Kilonzo was seconding this Motion, he read all the particulars that are required on the identity card, and all of them are obtained and are available where somebody lives. What business do you have checking this information in Nairobi? This is unless what we have been hearing in some areas, particularly in north eastern, where we are doubting their nationality or unless in some areas in northern Kenya where the Minister thinks we are aliens. In fact, a suggestion has been made from the Floor that we should be given alien identity cards. We are not alien and we do not want alien identity cards. We want bona fide Kenyan identity cards. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is a small fee we are required to pay to get an identity card. Where I come from, we are bona fide citizens of the Republic. In order to confirm that, some Government officer tells me that I should pay something. Do I pay to be a Kenyan? Did I request to be born a Kenyan? I found myself a Kenyan. I am Kenyan by birth. I am a Kenyan by right. Why should I pay to be a Kenyan? This is not a service to be volunteered or to be sought. This is a right which the State must provide for free! That small fee has made some people miss that opportunity because we ask ourselves: “Once I die, do I buy citizenship?” In any case, I have no bank to go to and I have nothing to use that identity card for. It is for the good of the country and the Minister. So, the Minister must waive those fees so that the identity cards are given for free. The suggestion given by Prof. Olweny who is my good teacher who is here is right. Even me, I got my identity card in school. Why can we not arrange that they go to schools? This should be arranged so that people do not have to go to certain places to be given identity cards so that this process becomes easier. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I hope when the Minister responds, he will be very categorical because I have heard him say this and I support him. He has said that he is not part of the police conspiracy to nyanyasa Kenyans because a police man will always ask you whether you have an identity card or not. He must make it very clear to the police that it is not a requirement for you to carry your identity card and there is nothing criminal for you not to have your identity card at any one particular time."
}