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Principal Secretary for Citizen Services Julius Bitok has said that the controversial increase in the cost of obtaining birth certificates from Ksh50 to Ksh200 is due to inflation.

Appearing before the National Assembly on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, Bitok revealed that the increase was long overdue as the last review was done 36 years ago.

“These fees are being revised 36 years down the line. 1988 is 36 years from now and clearly, the inflation is more than ten times. The principle which affects more people is the one we increased from Ksh50- Ksh200, but the last time it was done was 36 years ago,” Bitok said.

Adding: “We proposed increasing it to Ksh200 because of the cost of materials, inflation, and the changes in the times.”

This was after Deputy President Kithure Kindiki while still carrying out the duties of the Interior Ministry indicated the price hike in a gazette supplement notice.

Cost of birth certificates

In the notice, it will now cost Kenyans seeking a death certificate or birth certificate a total of Ksh200. Similarly, the government increased the cost of late birth registrations from Ksh150 to Ksh500.

However, one of the biggest increases in the gazette supplement was the increase in the cost of replacing lost birth certificates from Ksh90 to Ksh1,000.

Also, correcting typing errors and any other wrong information manifested in birth certificates will cost Ksh1,000 up from Ksh130.

However, the notice also indicated that foreign registration of births in foreign missions abroad would require Kenyans in those countries to pay up to USD150, the equivalent of Ksh19,000.

Revenue efforts

 The cost of authenticating the seal of the Principal Registrar will be Ksh500, with the same service costing $100 (Ksh12,950) when provided by a foreign mission in Kenya.

The changes are part of the government’s efforts to generate more revenue to plug the deficit occasioned by the rejection of the controversial Finance Bill 2024.

Bitok’s explainer comes just weeks after President William Ruto indicated that the inflation had gone from 9 per cent in 2022 to 2.7 per cent.

Ruto said that the Bottom-Up-Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) was already showing indications of an economy in recovery and that Kenyans should expect to be prepared for more transformation in the country.