Over 520,000 national identity cards remain uncollected at Huduma Centres despite the government issuing over one million IDs between January and May 2026, Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has revealed.
Appearing before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Regional Integration on Tuesday, Kipsang said the government aims to issue three million national ID cards to Kenyans nationwide by the end of the year through the ongoing registration exercise.
The PS told the committee, chaired by Nominated MP Irene Mayaka, that the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services had improved the process of issuing identity documents through the use of technology, reducing the time taken to process new applications and replacements.
Kipsang appeared before the committee at Parliament Buildings to brief MPs on progress made in implementing the East African Community (EAC) Common Market Protocol, including efforts to improve the issuance of e-passports and support easier movement within the region.
He said the ongoing national ID card issuance exercise is also targeting students who have attained the age of 18 years.
“Hon. Members, we have invested in technology; we moved from a manual system of issuing ID cards to a digital system where we scan all documents in the live capture equipment; this allows us to issue this important document within ten days and a replacement for the same within a day”, he said.
“Since we started using the live capture equipment, in five months we have issued 1.5 million ID cards. 1.9 million ID cards were issued last year, and we project to issue 3 million by the end of this year. This is because of the efficiency in stopping the vetting process, which had denied many Kenyans a chance to get ID cards. We have Kenyans in Wajir and Narok Counties who are getting ID cards for the first time in their 60’s and 80’s.”
He added that the department has deployed more than 600 live capture units to support faster registration and issuance of identity documents. He said the technology has helped reduce the production timeline, with more than 1.5 million IDs produced in the last five months.
He also announced a nationwide mobile registration exercise targeting more than 1.1 million students who have reached the age of 18 years, alongside public awareness campaigns on the revised National Registration Guidelines to promote access to registration services.
On concerns over foreigners acquiring national identity cards, the PS clarified that the government only issues alien ID cards to non-citizens to enable them to access services such as SIM card registration and telephone services.
He said refugees are issued special identity cards and do not receive the standard national identity cards issued to Kenyan citizens.
Committee chairperson, Mayaka, praised the PS and his department for their efforts to speed up the process of acquiring national identity cards and passports.
During discussions on regional integration and implementation of the Common Market Protocol, Members of Parliament urged the PS to push for the use of national identity cards as travel documents within East African countries and other willing partner states.
The members noted that the arrangement is already being used between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and called on Tanzania and other northern corridor countries to adopt the same approach.
Kipsang also briefed the committee on Kenya’s compliance with regional agreements on the East African Biometric e-Passport, saying passport processing times had been reduced to between three and seven days.
He added that regional initiatives such as the Interstate Pass continue to support easier movement across East African Community member states.
He, however, raised concerns over the continued use of visas in most EAC countries instead of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA).
“Most countries across the world are now using eTA for international travel, and Kenya has fully complied with this. In the last ranking across the world, our passport was ranked 68th globally, 10th in Africa and 1st in the region; this leaves us with strength and confidence. You can go to 69 countries using our passport without having a visa,” he said.
The State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services said it remains committed to using technology, strengthening regional integration and ensuring eligible Kenyans access citizenship and travel documents.
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