Birth and death certificates will be available online beginning in March this year as the Government also introduces a new registration format for newborns.

Immigration and Citizen Services PS Prof. Julius Bitok said newborns registered from March will be issued with a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) that will serve as their identity for the rest of their lives.

 “On the 1st of March, all registrations of births and death will be online. They will be accessed through e-citizen services and people will be given what we call Unique Personal Identifier (UPI).”

Speaking in Ngong town during the opening of Civil Registration Services, the PS however clarified that UPI was not intended to be a substitute for the Huduma Namba that was introduced under the previous administration.

He said the UPI will only apply to newborns who will grow to use the number for admission to both primary and secondary schools and a host of other registrations upon attaining 18 years.

“We are saying we don’t have to give someone many numbers. You’ll be given a number when you’re born and you’ll use that number in primary school as your registration number, high school, in college, use it as an ID and it becomes your number for whatever transaction.”

 Last week, President William Ruto said the government will reintroduce the Huduma Namba whose rollout was beset by court and political challenges over concerns of the security of captured data and apprehensions over its role in the last year’s General Election.

With the introduction of UPI, the Government hopes to raise the percentage of both registered births and deaths in the country that currently stand at 86 percent and 55 percent respectively.

Despite being a legal requirement that among other things, yields important data on population and other demographics, the registration of births and deaths has especially been a challenge among nomadic and pastoral communities.

In Kajiado County, for instance, the statistics for birth and death registration currently stands at 85 percent and 31 percent respectively.

The new CSR office in Ngong will ease access to births and deaths registration and certification especially to the over 300,000 residents of Kajiado North constituency who currently have to travel to either Nairobi or Kajiado town.

Area MP Onesmus Ngogoyo urged residents to take advantage of the new office and the planned UPI to register new births and deaths.

The function was also attended by Environment PS Ephantus Kimotho who urged residents to support the government-led tree-planting drive.