Immigration Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has 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.

Speaking in a presser on Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Nakuru, the PS revealed that there is a significant backlog in the distribution of these vital documents.

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.

He noted that some counties have been performing well with nearly zero unclaimed documents. Belio highlighted that others face a steep challenge.

He revealed that in Nakuru County, more than 34,000 printed IDs are currently sitting in offices waiting for their owners.

“But in this particular county, we have a challenge. We have more than 34,000 IDs that have been printed but not yet collected,” Belio confirmed.

The role of chiefs in distribution

To address the issue of collection, Belio noted that the government plans to leverage the existing administrative structure, from chiefs and assistant chiefs down to village elders, to ensure the documents reach their rightful owners.

“We have our chiefs today because we would want to use the structure of the chiefs, which runs all the way from assistant chiefs to the village elders, to ensure that these IDs reach the persons who applied for them,” Belio said.

He emphasized that because these officers are appointed to specific jurisdictions and are not subject to transfers, they possess unique local knowledge of their residents.

“Chiefs are the only officers who are not transferred because they are appointed for a specific jurisdiction and they were born and brought up there,” Belio said.

Niko Kadi campaign

This comes at a time when the Niko Kadi campaign has gained momentum, with the initiator of the movement, Ademba Allans, saying that they aim to sensitize over 1,000 youths from each constituency to register as voters daily.

IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukwana stated that, since the voter registration exercise opened in late October 2025, they have only registered 250,000 new voters. The Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) is set to begin on Monday, March 30, 2026.