President William Ruto has maintained that citizens seeking the national identity card (ID) replacement will get help from relevant authorities without having to pay a cent at the issuance centres.

Speaking during his Nakuru tour on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, the Head of State urged the public to make good use of the waiver and replace their ID cards amid the resumed continuous voter registration exercise nationwide.

Service fee waived

Citizens have been paying a total of Ksh1000 service fee at Huduma Kenya centres countrywide to get their lost ID cards replaced.

”Let me make it clear from this moment: if you have lost your ID card, go and replace it. We have waived the Ksh1000 charge fee. Go and get your ID card without any payment,” Ruto said.

At the same time, citizens well beyond the age of 18 years have also been subjected to vetting before getting issued with the national identity cards. This, according to Ruto, will not happen again going forward.

”Also, if you do not have an ID card, even when you are 20, 30 or 50 years old, do not fear vetting; go and get it without being subjected to many questions. Citizens should be issued ID cards when they are in the country,” Ruto added.

Also watch: Murkomen says over 1M Kenyans aged 30 and above have no IDs.

Confusion emerges

However, Kenyans have been left confused after learning that Huduma Kenya has maintained that citizens seeking to replace lost or damaged national identity cards (ID) will still be required to pay Ksh1,000, contradicting President William Ruto’s recent directive.

In response to a customer on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Huduma Kenya said the Head of State’s directive is yet to be implemented, urging Kenyans to pay the current fee for replacing an ID.

“Hello, kindly note it has not yet been implemented; the charge for replacement of ID is 1050 KSh. The 300 was for first-time applicants; that is free now,” the Facebook message read.

The agency further added, “Once published, we will share any updates regarding fees or policy changes on our official social media channels.” President William Ruto has promised that no eligible Kenyan will be denied their democratic right to vote in the forthcoming 2027 general election for lacking a national identity card.