Murkomen announces plan to use new technology to produce IDs within 3 days
By Aloys Michael, July 18, 2025Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has announced a groundbreaking technological intervention that will enable Kenyans to receive national identification cards within three days.
The move is aimed at ending long-standing documentation delays, especially in marginalised regions.
At the heart of the initiative is the Mobile Live Capture Unit, a battery-powered, portable device capable of digitally collecting and submitting applicant data for fast-track processing.
Murkomen said the Interior Ministry is currently piloting the system in Samburu County, a region historically excluded from efficient ID registration due to insecurity, poor infrastructure, and now-abolished vetting requirements.
“I assessed the piloting of the Mobile Live Capture Unit, a portable battery-powered machine that is used to capture data of ID applicants and submitted electronically for processing,” Murkomen shared on his official X account on Friday, July 18, 2025.
The innovation is expected to transform national registration in hard-to-reach areas by bringing services directly to schools and remote villages.
According to Murkomen, once fully rolled out, the technology will reduce the current waiting time, often several weeks or even months, to just 72 hours.
“Applicants will be able to get their ID cards in three days,” he emphasised.
The rollout
This digital rollout is particularly timely for counties like Samburu, where the government estimates that at least 92,000 adults currently lack national identification cards.
Murkomen noted that residents have faced years of systemic barriers to registration, ranging from geographical inaccessibility to outdated bureaucratic practices.
“Samburu County is one of the counties where access to Identification Cards registration services is challenging owing to the vastness of the area, insecurity issues, and poor road network,” the CS stated.
He added that the now-discontinued vetting process disproportionately affected communities in border and pastoralist regions, exacerbating inequality in access to identification and, by extension, to public services, voting, education, and formal employment.
“It was also one of the counties that, for a long time, was affected by the now-abolished extra vetting requirement for first-time ID applicants,” he said.
The Ministry of Interior views the Samburu pilot as a blueprint for broader national implementation, particularly in other arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) where identification gaps remain critical.
He said the initiative aligns with the government’s broader agenda to use technology and innovation to improve public service delivery, especially for historically underserved populations.
Murkomen said the tech-enabled process will not only streamline operations but also rebuild trust between citizens and state institutions in regions where registration has long been viewed as a privilege rather than a right.