The Principal Secretary State in the Department for Immigration and Citizen Services Amb. Prof. Julius Bitok has revealed that going forward, national IDs will be out in 10 days and not 21 days as before.
Bitok was speaking at Katoloni Scouts Centre in Machakos town on Monday during the International Identity Day where he encouraged the youth to register their details and get their 3rd generation identity cards in 10 days.
He added that passports would also be out in 7 days while birth certificates would only take a day and those seeking to replace or renew their IDs would now be getting the 3rd generation ID.
Bitok explained that they chose to celebrate the International Identity Day in Machakos because of the high number of youths, at 32,000, who have cleared their secondary education and were eligible to register and pick their IDs.
“We have introduced the Maisha number and for those who have IDs already, the number on the ID cards would be the ones on the Maisha number,” said Bitok.
He highlighted that Maisha number would incorporate modern technology and has supporting features such as Unique Personal Identity (UPI), Maisha Digital Identity and Maisha number database.
Additionally, he said the Maisha card consisted of a chip that would help in minimizing cases of fraud and tampering of one’s details which would enhance security and also help the government in planning.
He promised Machakos residents of opening a passport office for the lower Eastern region that would also serve Makueni and Kitui counties to ease the burden of going to Nairobi
“I urge Kenyans to pick their passports since there are over 100,000 passports uncollected at the Immigration office in Nairobi,” added PS Bitok.
He was accompanied by Senior officials from the National Registration bureau (NRB), Huduma Kenya, Machakos Member of Parliament (MP), Caleb Mule, Muvuti MCA Joseph Mulinge, Machakos Deputy County Commissioner David Rotich among other leaders.
By Anne Kangero
