Duale wants MPs to probe delay in IDs issuance in Wajir, Garissa

 

Former National Assembly majority leader and Garissa Township MP Aden Duale now wants a parliamentary committee to investigate why people living in Garissa and Wajir counties — who are Kenyan citizens — lack national identification documents.

This, he says, is despite a verification exercise by government agencies undertaken in 2019 which recommended that they be issued with the documents.

In a petition filed in the House, Mr Duale wants the Administration and National Security Committee to investigate why the issuance of the documents has been delayed.

Mr Duale further wants the committee chaired by Kiambaa MP Paul Koinange to direct Interior Cabinet Secretary  Fred Matiang’i to deregister as refugees all persons who were vetted and confirmed as citizens of Kenya.

Rendered stateless

“Kenyans residing in Garissa and Wajir Counties have been denied registration and identification documents which have rendered them stateless,” says Mr Duale, noting that the committee should guarantee the issuance of the relevant identification and registration documents to all the vetted persons.

The national identification card is Kenya’s official document of proof of citizenship.

Huduma Namba

However, in 2019, the government sponsored amendments to the Registration of Persons Act to introduce the National Integrated Identity Management System (Nims), also known as Huduma Namba.

Huduma Namba centralises all the official government documents — NSSF card, ID card and driving license among others.

Mr Duale’s petition further wants the National Assembly committee to recommend the vetting and deregistration as refugees of “any other persons that were left out in the vetting process”.

He says that denying Kenyans an identification document is a violation of Articles 1 (1), 2(1) and 12 of the Constitution.

“The lack of documents of registration and identification issued by the State to her citizens amounts to a fundamental denial and infringement of the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights espoused in the Constitution,” the petition reads.

Government services

Mr Duale notes that the lack of identification documents means that Kenyan citizens residing in Garissa and Wajir Counties cannot access government services including health and education among others.

Other than accessing health services and education, the lack of identification documents means that the residents cannot exercise their political and economic rights as well as accessing banking services and formal employment, he adds.

The amended Registration of Persons Act provides that a person shall not be issued with a Huduma Card unless one possesses an identification card.

The Huduma Namba card is linked to other government services.

They include medical services, mobile phone services, registration of businesses, access to public utilities and registration as a voter among others.

Double registration

But even as the committee prepares to consider Mr Duale’s petition, the lack of registration and identification documents among some residents in the two counties has been attributed to double registration.

This was brought out by the fact that Kenyans residing in Wajir and Garissa Counties were registered in the refugee data base, mainly at Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, in order to access services such as medical and education opportunities.

“The victims of double registrationincluding children are now living a life without dignity in their own country and are at risk of being labelled stateless for lack of identification documents,” says Mr Duale.

In the two counties, over 20,000 Kenyan Somalis are presently registered as refugees.

The petition claims that most of the Kenyan Somalis opted to be registered as refugees as a decoy to access food due to the drought experienced in the 1990s.

The Garissa Township MP notes that despite the many attempts to have the issue of double registration dealt with by the relevant authorities so as to pave way for registration and issuance of identification documents to Kenyans in the two counties, "our efforts have been futile”.

In 2017, leaders from north eastern made an appeal to the executive over the issue.

The then Director of Registration of Persons, through the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, was directed to develop a framework and oversee registration of Kenyans in Wajir and Garissa Counties.

In 2019 the government formed a taskforce to develop the procedure of vetting, verification and eligibility criteria for the stateless Kenyans.

The verification process revealed that Garissa Township had 3,000 youths who qualified to get a national identity card while Lagdera had 1,300, Ijara 2,000, Fafi 2,300 and Dadaab 6,200.

Wajir South also had 3,500 youths verified for issuance of ID cards.

The verification process, according to the petition, was undertaken using documents from parents, local elders, chiefs and other government agencies.

“Despite the verification process being concluded, to date the youths are yet to be de-registered as refugees and to be issued with the relevant identification and registration documents,” Mr Duale says in his petition.  BY DAILY NATION