Government urges Kenyans to pick IDs, Huduma Cards as thousands lie uncollected nationwide

BUNGOMA, Kenya, Sep, 14 – Thousands of identity cards remain uncollected across the country with the government now encouraging Kenyans to pick them up sooner rather than later instead of letting them gather dust.

In Kanduyi, Bungoma county, for instance, 500 IDs are yet be collected from the registration of persons office with Bungoma Assistant County Commissioner Abdi Shakur saying, the government might be forced to conduct searches for Kenyans over the age of 18 in the area who are willingly not picking their cards despite applying for them.

“We have over 500 identity cards in our offices that are yet to be collected. We have tried to use chiefs and are still facing challenges since owners are yet to pick them, From the numbers on the ID we realize that these are fairly young people, we are encouraging them to pick them up because sooner rather than later we will start arresting people since they are breaking the law,” said Shakur.

In the same sub-county, 6000 Huduma Namba cards are also yet to be collected despite residents receiving notification messages where and when to pick them up.

“We also have 6,000 Huduma cards that are yet to be collected. We are happy people are picking the cards but we want to tell them that just because there are huduma cards doesn’t mean IDs are not working. We are still using them until the government says otherwise. We do not want to stay with these cards in the office.” he said.

The government has increased its capacity in the processing and issuance of Huduma Namba cards to every citizen across the country with Kenyans who are yet to collect their cards advised to do so as soon as possible.

So far, at least 9 million Huduma Namba cards have been processed and dispatched across the country with 6 million Kenyans already having collected their cards.

Government spokesperson Rtd. Col. Cyrus Oguna expressed optimism over the exercise further urging Kenyans to collect their cards while at the same time urging them to visit the Huduma Namba website, in order to track the status of their card.

The government meanwhile is set to roll out phase two of the exercise with Oguna saying, plans are at,” an advanced stage, and the date of commencement will be announced soon.“

According to the government, Kenyans have the option to select where they would prefer to pick up their cards, however, despite receiving messages on their phones with instructions on how to navigate through the request, many have not done that.

As a result of the delayed response, Huduma Namba cards are now being delivered to an individual’s home county based on details on their identity card.

Kenyans can collect their cards at the National Registration Bureau (NRB) offices or ID Offices at the local level.

The government documents are said to be vital now more than ever as the country approaches the 2022 general elections.

“Ironically many come to our office to register in order to get their IDs bit once they are ready, they do not come to pick their identity cards. But when we approach election time we expect see them here..but we are telling them to come and pick them up,” said ACC Abdi Shakur.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is set to launch a national voter registration drive in October with IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati revealing that they are targeting the number of registered voters to rise to at least 25 million.

Back in August the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) during an elaborate media sector consultative meeting in Mombasa, announced that plans were fully on course for the country to hold free and fair elections.

With the commission now fully constituted, it is all systems go amidst a massive voter registration exercise in October with the commission targeting at least 4 million new voters.

During the media sector consultative meeting, IEBC revealed that in a bid to promote transparency in the results management process, accredited media houses will be granted access to polling stations and tallying centers to cover the vote counting, announcement, collation, and declaration of results during the 2022 polls.