Cabinet Secretary nominee for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government Kithure Kindiki has shed light into the reasons why the government resorted to National Identity cards with expiry dates.
He said the transition made under his watch as CS interior was a response to changing times and not in any way meant to punish Kenyans.
“The reason for the 10-year-limit is because of technology, unlike the ID that we are used to, the third generation ID, is a technology card and technology keeps growing old and that’s why we have a 10-year period,” he said when he appeared for approval hearings
Committee on Appointments Chairperson Moses Wetangula asked Kindiki to put in place mechanisms to make it possible for all Kenyans, regardless of their location and status, to hold onto an ID, if approved for reappointment into the position given the numerous challenges a section of Kenyans face in its search.
“An ID in this country is everything, you can’t enter a supermarket, you can’t open a bank account. Now, if you are going to have that ID last for 10 years, then you must put in place a seamless renewal so that people don’t suffer because of failure to renew an ID card,” he said
Kindiki responded in the affirmative noting; “I agree with your recommendations and guidance that we should consider seamless transition after the 10 years to avoid creating a crisis. I believe it would be possible because we had a similar situation with passports when we went into e-passports,”
“So, what you do for example, is to say that the ID that has expired is to continue operating until you get a new one,” he explained
If approved to go back to office, Wetangula asked the Interior CS Nominee to draft regulations that will guide and manage renewal of IDs and take it to Parliament for approval.
