Over 2000 birth certificates are laying uncollected at the Civil Registrar’s Office in Makueni town, area County Commissioner (CC) Mr. Maalim Mohammed has said.
Mohammed said that Kathozweni Sub County had the highest number of uncollected birth certificates at 330 and Nzaui the least at 113.
He said this on Friday at Makueni headquarters during the launch of the 30 Days Rapid Result Initiative (RRI) on the issuance of birth certificates that will be overseen by the Civil Registrar’s office in the county.
In this regard, the administrator said the birth certificates will be handed over to each Deputy County Commissioner who will in turn ensure the vital document reaches the owners in their respective jurisdiction.
While saying there are only two offices providing services to wananchi in the county, the CC observed that wananchi were incurring huge costs in transport in an effort to secure birth certificates.
“As a government we have to be efficient and effective in taking services closer to wananchi. They should not come looking for us but need to reduce the costs. That is why we have started this initiative. Birth certificates will be given to assistant county commissioners and to chiefs and their assistants who will hand them over to the owners,” said Mohammed.
However, he said that there was need to decentralize the issuance of birth certificates to the nine sub-counties adding that the exercise will run from 1st to 30thJuly 2019.
In this regard, he appealed to wananchi to take advantage of this initiative and register their children who do not have the vital document especially those who are going to sit for national examinations.
Speaking at the same event, the Acting Makueni Civil Registrar Ms. Christine Gachau said that chiefs and their assistants need to give to her office timely monthly returns of children who have been delivered at home and deaths that occur in their respective jurisdiction.
At the same time, she said that the resources advanced to her department were inadequate besides understaffing and lack of registration materials and certificate booklets that hampered them from meeting the needs of the people in the area.
By Patrick Nyakundi and Ann Murigi
