60-Year-Old Vetting Requirement for Northern Kenya ID Applicants Abolished

GOOBJOOG NEWS | WAJIR: Residents of Northern Kenya will now acquire national identity cards with ease after President William Ruto signed a decree scrapping a 60-year-old vetting requirement.

Addressing residents of Orahey Grounds in Wajir Town on Wednesday, President Ruto termed the mandatory vetting of ID applicants from border counties as unjust and discriminatory.

“I want to assure the people that the discrimination witnessed in this region for the last 60 years will come to an end. When a child from Mandera, Wajir, or Garissa applies for an ID and is subjected to unnecessary scrutiny, this must stop forthwith,” said the President.

For years, residents of North Eastern Kenya have endured extra vetting and ethnic profiling by the state before acquiring birth certificates and national identity cards.

“We want the people of Northern Kenya to feel equal to the rest of the country,” Ruto added.

Additionally, the President announced plans to reopen a passport office that had been previously closed, acknowledging the region’s long-standing demand for improved access to government services.

“We will reopen the passport office because its closure amounts to discrimination. Every citizen must have equal access to government services, and we are committed to ensuring inclusivity,” he said.

The vetting process was initially introduced as a security measure following the Shifta insurgency of the 1960s. The Shifta war was a secessionist conflict in which ethnic Somalis, Muslim Borana, and other groups sought to join Somalia.

However, the decision to abolish the vetting requirement is widely seen as a strategic political move by President Ruto to solidify a new voting bloc ahead of the 2027 General Election. This comes just days after the High Court in Garissa ordered a fresh census for three counties in the Northeastern region.

A total of 882,000 voters from Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Isiolo, and Marsabit counties participated in the 2022 presidential election. However, residents of these counties have long complained that their population numbers were underreported in the 2019 national census.

Earlier this week, Ruto met with a section of elders from Mandera County, where he expressed confidence in securing a second term in office, citing his decades of political experience.