Over 170, 00 registered with NIIMS in upper eastern region

Over 170,000 people have registered with National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) in Marsabit and Isiolo counties.
The regional coordinator for the two counties Otieno Okitch said that 110,000 people have registered in Marsabit County against the target of 280,000.
He said that on average Isiolo county register 4,000 people daily while Marsabit covers between 5,000 and 7500 each day.
Okitch was optimistic that the two counties will meet the target of 430,000 people before May, 17, 2019.
He praised the registration officers and their assistants for working diligently to meet their targets.
The coordinator called on local people who crossed into the neighbouring country in search of water and pasture for their livestock to come back now that it has rained in the area.
“The chiefs and Nyumba Kumi committee members have already been instructed and are pursuing the herdsmen so that they do not miss out on the exercise that comes to an end on May 17 this year,” he added.
Meanwhile, long queues are being witnessed in various registration centres in Isiolo town and area residents are demanding for additional registration kits as well as mobile listing for the elderly in the villages who cannot walk.
“There is need for mobile listing of the elderly even if it is done after the official working hours so that they are not left out in this important national exercise,” a local businessman Hassan Wako said.
Wako appealed to the locals to register in large numbers noting that during last census some of them refused to be listed for fear of being subjected to taxation.
He lamented that this kind of unfounded falsehoods has cost them dearly since the county gets the least in resource sharing from national government.
By Abduba Mamo