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"id": 641935,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/641935/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kubai Iringo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1574,
"legal_name": "Cyprian Kubai Iringo",
"slug": "cyprian-kubai-iringo"
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"content": "We have a big problem with people who lose their ID cards, especially the aged. From getting a police abstract to re-applying for the ID card, the process becomes so cumbersome to the extent that they despair on the way and say they can do without it. I support by calling the Government to decentralize the issuance of ID cards and make sure we have enough personnel to do the same. If you go to the ID card issuing offices in our counties, sub-counties or Government offices, you will find that most of the operations are manual. Everything is manually done and the staff is very lean to the extent that if one has to serve 20 people, it will require two to three days. Every day, people are reaching maturity age and would like to have ID cards. This being a right for every Kenyan, it is important for the Government to invest seriously on the issuance of ID cards and, especially, putting up automated systems which will fast-track that exercise. That is why we are requesting the IEBC not to put stringent measures or use fake reasons not to allow somebody who has a waiting card to register as a voter. From the time one applies for an ID card up to the time one gets it, it takes two to three months. Sometimes, some people despair and do not even bother to go back and look for them. If you go to the registration offices, you will find piles and piles of ID cards. They do not have any mechanism, method, order or way of reaching those who have applied for them. Once they are received, they pile them in boxes without any order. When somebody comes for their ID card, it will require an officer to search a big box with thousands of cards trying to trace a single card. It might take a whole day before it is traced and that person might despair and leave it there. With regard to the waiting cards, when one loses an ID card, for example, one goes to the police station to report and is given a police abstract. Once you get that police abstract, which indicates your ID card number, you can access your bank account with it. That abstract indicates that you have reported the loss of your ID card and you are waiting to be issued with another one. Therefore, you should access services within that spell of time while you wait for that ID card. Equally, while you wait for your ID card to be processed at Nyayo House, you need to access all the services as appertains to a Kenyan, until you get your new ID. In the current scenario, when you go to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), you are told to wait for your ID card. You may want to open an account, but you are told to wait until you get your ID card. That waiting card has a serial number which, at the end of the day, will become your ID card number. If you want to buy a shamba or register with Mpesa, you have to wait until you get your ID card. Therefore, it should not just be IEBC’s call; it should also be the call of every other institution which provides services to Kenyans and where an ID card is required. More so, the waiting period for an ID card should also be limited to, maybe, a week or two. This will only be done if we decentralise the issuance of ID cards, maybe, to the Huduma Centres or in our counties. At the same time, we should do away with the manual system of issuing ID cards and automate the process so that we can go digital and fast-track it. The number of people who become of age every day and require ID cards is more than the number of ID cards being processed at the same rate. I firmly support this Motion. I beg that the Members and my colleagues in this House pass it. The IEBC and all those who provide services to Kenyans should implement it. Another problem is the lame excuses given for denying someone an ID card. Someone is denied an ID card because his or her finger is rough. There are people who work as masons, farmers, in quarries cutting stones and in other places. At the end of the day, their hands become 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."
}