NAIROBI, Kenya — The government is seeking to trace more than 557,000 Kenyans whose national identity cards remain uncollected, as it steps up efforts to ensure eligible citizens can participate in the 2027 General Election.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Dr Belio Kipsang told MPs on Thursday, November 5, that the backlog stood at 557,930 identity cards, including nearly 400,000 documents that have remained uncollected for more than a decade.
The government is intensifying efforts to locate applicants and deliver the documents before the next phase of voter registration, which Kipsang told the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security was expected to begin in January 2027.
“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 the committee.
The exercise will involve chiefs and assistant chiefs, who are expected to help identify applicants in their respective areas and facilitate the collection of cards that have already been processed.
The backlog has raised concerns about access to identification documents ahead of the election, particularly for citizens who do not hold alternative identification.
Under electoral rules, eligible Kenyans can register as voters using either a national identity card or a valid Kenyan passport.
This means the uncollected ID backlog does not automatically translate into an equal number of people being excluded from voter registration, but it could create difficulties for applicants who have neither document.
Government abolishes ID application and replacement fees
Kipsang said the government had removed charges previously imposed on Kenyans applying for new identity cards or seeking replacements, in a move intended to eliminate financial barriers to obtaining the documents.
The abolished fees include the Sh300 previously charged for first-time applications and the Sh1,000 replacement fee.
“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.
The department is also working with National Government Administration Officers to trace applicants whose cards have already been processed but remain at registration offices.
Under the proposed arrangement, local administrators will receive information about uncollected cards in their jurisdictions and help locate their owners.
The department is further considering allowing identity cards to be collected by parents, guardians and other authorised persons, subject to verification procedures to ensure the documents reach the rightful holders.
Kipsang said the government was also finalising an electronic notification system through the e-Citizen platform to alert applicants by SMS when their identity cards are ready.
“We are finalising the system to ensure that applicants are notified through SMS when their IDs are ready. This will help us fast-track the collection of these documents,” he said.
The department has also invested in live-capture equipment to improve the registration and processing of identity documents and reduce the risk of cards being issued to the wrong people.
Government considers fate of 400,000 old identity cards
The large number of uncollected identity cards, particularly those that have remained in registration offices for more than 10 years, has presented the government with a legal and administrative challenge.
Kipsang said the department had made budgetary provisions to determine how the old documents could be handled in accordance with the law.
He cited Section 17 of the Registration of Persons Act, which provides for the declaration of identity cards as invalid through a notice issued by the Cabinet Secretary.
However, he said the government would have to exercise caution before taking any action involving the long-uncollected documents.
“An identity card is very personal to an individual, and we have to be very careful about how we dispose of cards that have remained uncollected for a long time,” he said.
The provision allows the Cabinet Secretary to declare identity cards invalid through a Gazette notice. It does not mean that cards become automatically invalid simply because their owners have failed to collect them for a specified period.
MPs question delays in ID processing
The PS’s presentation prompted MPs to question delays in processing and delivering identity cards, particularly in remote areas where applicants continue to wait for months despite the government’s investment in modern technology.
Teso South MP Uku Kaunya told the committee that more than 5,000 identity cards were reportedly pending delivery to registration stations in Amagoro, with some applicants waiting between two and three months.
He questioned why the documents were taking so long to reach local registration offices despite improvements in the national processing system.
“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.
The MP also proposed involving village elders in the distribution exercise, arguing that their presence at the grassroots could help trace applicants and ensure identity cards reach their owners.
Saku MP Dido Raso, the committee’s vice-chairperson, acknowledged improvements in the registration process, particularly for residents of pastoralist communities who previously faced difficulties obtaining identity documents.
He said applicants from some of these communities had been required to produce several supporting documents, including their mothers’ birth certificates, death certificates and identity cards, making the process lengthy and difficult.
Raso also urged the department to adopt the passport collection notification system for identity cards, saying applicants often failed to collect their documents because they were not informed when the cards arrived.
“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,” he said.
The MP further raised concerns over expiry dates printed on new-generation identity cards, warning that some Kenyans could mistakenly interpret them as meaning their citizenship would cease to exist after the stated date.
He called for public education to clarify the difference between the expiry of an identification document and the loss of citizenship.
PS promises faster processing and delivery
Sotik MP Francis Sigei also questioned the delays in delivering processed identity cards to applicants, arguing that the waiting periods were difficult to justify given the technology available to the government.
“People apply for IDs and then take a long time before the documents reach the stations. With the current technology, one wonders why it should take so long,” Sigei said.
He also raised concerns about delays in issuing identity cards to people married to Kenyan citizens across the country’s borders, particularly those from neighbouring Uganda and South Sudan.
In response, Kipsang said the department had the capacity to print up to 20,000 identity cards daily and was working to reduce the time taken to process applications and deliver the documents.
He cited Busia County, where 11,000 identity cards had been processed over the preceding 30 days and were at different stages of completion.
In Kericho County, he said 17,000 cards were being processed and were expected to reach applicants within seven to 10 days.
“Any ID application that reaches us should be processed and delivered within seven to 10 days. It is a rolling system because as we receive new applications, we continue processing and dispatching those already received,” he said.
However, Kaunya maintained that the situation in Amagoro required urgent intervention, insisting that the figure of more than 5,000 pending cards had been obtained directly from the local registration office.
He urged the department to investigate the discrepancy between its national processing figures and the delays reported by applicants in his constituency.
Committee chairman and Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo subsequently directed Kipsang to investigate the concerns raised by members and establish the reasons for delays in specific regions.
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“Where members raise issues concerning particular regions and you may not have the exact information, you should take them down and follow up with your officers to establish what is happening and take the necessary action,” Tongoyo said.
He added that the committee would share findings from its field visits to help the department address service-delivery gaps, including shortages of personnel in some registration offices.
Kipsang assured the committee that he would provide Kaunya with a detailed update on the status of applications in Amagoro and the wider Busia County.
Government clarifies ID expiry dates
Responding to concerns about expiry dates on identity cards, Kipsang said the dates were intended to facilitate updates to the technology and information stored in the identification chip, rather than indicate that the holder’s citizenship was expiring.
He said the department would notify Kenyans in advance when their cards required replacement to update the information stored in the chips.
“When your passport expires, you do not lose your citizenship. It is the same with an identity card. It is about updating the information contained in the chip and not the expiry of your citizenship,” he said.
The department pledged to intensify public sensitisation to prevent misunderstandings about the new-generation identity cards.
On passport issuance, Kipsang dismissed concerns about shortages of printing materials, saying the department had adequate supplies and was operating within its timelines.
He said Kenya was transitioning to the third generation of passports and had more than one million booklets from the previous generation as the old system was phased out.
The PS also promised to review staffing levels across the country to address concerns over unequal distribution of personnel and ensure that no region was disadvantaged in accessing immigration and civil registration services.
He further announced that the government was harmonising national registration and civil registration services, which have traditionally operated through separate offices, to enable Kenyans to access both services at a single point.
“We are harmonising these offices so that Kenyans can get both civil registration and national registration services at one point,” he said.
The government’s latest intervention comes as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission prepares for the 2027 General Election, scheduled for August 10, 2027, with the accuracy and inclusivity of the voters’ register remaining central to the electoral preparations.
