State recruits chiefs to trace 557,930 Kenyans who have not collected IDs

More than half a million Kenyans are yet to collect their national identity cards, prompting the government to enlist chiefs and assistant chiefs in a nationwide effort to trace applicants before the next voter registration exercise begins in January 2027.

The growing backlog, which includes close to 400,000 identity cards that have remained uncollected for more than a decade, has raised concerns about the ability of eligible citizens to participate in the 2027 General Election.

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said the government was adopting new measures to ensure no eligible Kenyan is left without an identity card when the electoral process gets underway.

Speaking before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security on Thursday, Kipsang said the department was working with local administrators to reach people whose documents had been processed but were still lying at registration centres.

Through the initiative, chiefs and their assistants will be provided with information about uncollected identity cards in their respective locations to help identify the applicants and encourage them to collect the documents.

The department is also exploring ways of making the collection process more flexible, including allowing parents, guardians and other authorised individuals to pick up identity cards on behalf of applicants after undergoing the required verification.

Kipsang said the measures were part of a wider plan to eliminate obstacles that have prevented Kenyans from accessing the documents, particularly ahead of the 2027 elections.

“We are making sure that before the voter registration exercise in January, every Kenyan who should have an ID has one and is able to participate in next year’s elections,” Kipsang told MPs.

The PS further disclosed that the government had abolished charges for both first-time identity card applications and replacements in a move intended to make the documents accessible to all citizens.

Previously, applicants paid Sh300 to obtain a new identity card, while those seeking replacements were required to pay Sh1,000. The removal of the charges is expected to ease the financial burden on people seeking the documents.

“We have removed all payments, including the Sh300 that used to be charged for new IDs and the Sh1,000 for replacements, so that it becomes easy for every Kenyan to acquire these documents and prepare to play their civic duty when the time comes next year for the elections,” he said.

In addition to involving local administrators, the department is preparing a text message notification system that will inform applicants when their identity cards are ready for collection.

Kipsang said the system was nearing completion and would help address cases where people fail to pick up their documents because they have not received information confirming their arrival at registration stations.

The proposals came as MPs questioned the efficiency of the existing distribution system, with some saying delays in transferring processed identity cards from headquarters to local registration offices were inconveniencing applicants.

Teso South MP Oku Kaunya raised concerns over the situation in Amagoro, where more than 5,000 identity cards had reportedly taken between two and three months to reach the registration stations after being processed.

He challenged the department to explain the delays and outline measures being taken to ensure documents reach applicants without unnecessary waiting periods.

“At some stations, the IDs take too long to be processed at the headquarters and delivered to the ground. In Amagoro, we have more than 5,000 that have taken over two to three months without arriving. The PS needs to explain what is happening and what is being done to fast-track the process,” Kaunya said.

Kaunya also called for the involvement of village elders in the distribution exercise, arguing that their knowledge of local residents could help ensure identity cards are handed over to the correct owners.

Meanwhile, Saku MP Dido Raso, the vice-chairperson of the committee, praised the progress made in improving identity card registration, particularly among pastoralist communities that have previously faced difficulties accessing the service.

Despite the improvements, Raso said the department needed to strengthen its communication with applicants to prevent completed documents from remaining uncollected.

He urged the government to introduce a notification arrangement similar to the one used in passport collection, where applicants receive messages informing them that their documents have arrived at designated stations.

“One of the reasons many people do not collect their identity cards is because they are not informed when the documents arrive. When passports arrive at a station, the individual receives a text message and quickly goes to collect them. The same should happen with identity cards,” Raso said.

The MP also questioned the practice of printing expiry dates on national identity cards, warning that the information could be misunderstood by members of the public.

He said some Kenyans might wrongly assume that their citizenship would come to an end once the date printed on their identity cards had passed, raising the need for greater clarity on the matter.

The concerns come as the government works to address longstanding challenges in the registration, processing and distribution of identity cards, with the January 2027 voter registration deadline adding pressure to the exercise.

With 557,930 cards still awaiting collection, the department is seeking to combine the support of local administrators, improved communication and more flexible collection arrangements to ensure eligible citizens obtain the documents in good time.