Some 476,167 printed national identity cards have not been collected from registration centres across the country, the government says.

The IDs were lying at National Registration Bureau (NRB) offices and the various Huduma Centres across the country, said Interior Principal Secretary Julius Bitok.

“As of close of business on August 26th, a staggering number of ID cards were lying unclaimed, with Nairobi County leading the tally with 55,327,” said Bitok in a statement.

Kiambu had 37,708 uncollected IDs followed by Nakuru with 28,581.

Other counties with significant numbers include Kisumu (18,529), Mombasa (17,140), Kisii (15,842), and Murang’a (13,627).
The NRB urged the effected Kenyans to visit the stations where they submitted their applications and collect their IDs.

The uncollected IDs raised concerns about the potential implications for services that require identification, including voter registration, especially as the country prepares for upcoming elections.

“In the last 14 days, the bureau has printed a total of 505,197 national ID cards, 162,856 of which are new, and 344,341 duplicates. Only 1,358 applications are currently in the routine processing queue,” Bitok explained.

As a result, NRB has ramped up its printing capacity to 32,000 ID cards per day and has introduced 24-hour service to expedite the processing and production of cards, he said.

 The backlog clearance, he added, comes after a recent legal challenge that temporarily halted the issuing of the new third-generation ID cards, also known as Maisha Cards.

On July 25, the High Court issued a conservatory order barring the government from issuing the new IDs.

But the government appealed and the High Court set aside the conservatory order on August 12, allowing the NRB to resume printing both new and duplicate ID cards.

Bitok expressed concern about the large number of uncollected ID cards and urged the affected Kenyans to collect them.