Govt releases over 100K IDs amid push for voter registration ahead of 2027 polls
By Emmanuel Rono, May 21, 2026Huduma Kenya has announced the release of more than 308,000 identification documents, including national identity cards, birth certificates and smart driving licences, now ready for collection at Huduma Centres across the country.
According to a statement on its Facebook page on Thursday, May 21, 2026, Huduma stated that the documents released include 178,939 national identity cards, 29,138 birth certificates and 100,131 smart driving licences.
The release comes at a time when the country is preparing for an intensified voter registration drive ahead of the 2027 General Election, with national identity cards expected to play a key role in enabling eligible Kenyans to register as voters.
“The documents have arrived! Pass by any Huduma Centre and get sorted,” the statement by Huduma read.
Uncollected IDs
The release of the IDs come weeks after Immigration Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang raised an alarm over the high number of national identity cards that remain uncollected at various registration offices across the country, despite being ready for use.
He said that more than 400,000 national identification cards have not been collected across the country.
“Across the country, we have more than 400,000 IDs that have not been collected. But some counties are doing very well, and they almost have no IDs that are not yet collected,” Belio stated.
IEBC new voters
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has recently announced that it has surpassed the voter registration target under the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) Phase One by registering over 2.6 million new voters.
The IEBC Chairperson, Erastus Ethekon, said the Commission had set a target of 2.5 million new voters within 30 days and successfully met it. The commission revealed that since the beginning of the exercise, the Commission has registered 2,612,725 new voters.
“We had a target of 2.5 million new voters within 30 days, and we managed to meet that target. To put it into perspective, this is the number we have registered in the last 30 days,” said Ethekon.