Govt urges citizens to collect over 476,000 National ID cards across Kenya

A total of 476,167 printed National ID cards are lying uncollected in all the National Registration Bureau (NRB) offices and Huduma Centres across the country.

According to the state Department of Immigration and Citizen Services, the cards were by close of business on Monday lying in NRB offices across the country as follows;

Nairobi County has the highest number of uncollected ID cards (55,327) followed by Kiambu (37,708) and Nakuru (28,581).

Other counties with a high number of uncollected National ID cards are Kisumu (18,529), Mombasa (17,140), Kisii (15,842), Muranga (13,627), Uasin Gishu (13,155), Kajiado (12,533) and Bungoma (12,053).

"We urge applicants who are yet to collect their cards to visit the station where they submitted their application as soon as possible," Immigration and Citizen Services Permanent Secretary Julius Korir said.

He added that the NRB has cleared the backlog of National ID card applications and is expeditiously processing new requests as received and has ramped up the printing capacity to 32,000 National ID cards per day.

The PS added that NRB has deployed more personnel and introduced a 24-hour service dedicated to the processing and production of National ID cards.

"In the last fourteen (14) days, the NRB has printed 505,197 National ID cards (162,856 new and 344,341 duplicates). Only 1,358 applications are currently in the routine processing queue," PS Korir added.

The issuing of Maisha cards resumed on August 12, 2024, allowing the NRB to resume the printing of new and duplicate National ID cards. This comes after the High Court overturned a conservatory decision made on July 25, 2024, that temporarily prevented the Government from issuing third-generation National ID cards, commonly known as Maisha Cards, following the Government's appeal.

"By July 25, 2024, 451,228 National ID card applications (130,302 new and 320,926 duplicates) had been received at NRB and were in various stages of production. An additional 108,697 National ID card applications were received between August 12 and 26, 2024, at the NRB production centre," the PS added.