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Murkomen: Removing extra ID vetting does not compromise security
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen addresses participants during inspection of Climate Worx Program in Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Nairobi on February 7, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Kenyans raised concerns that the stopping the compulsory vetting of Identification card applicants will compromise the country’s security.
- President Ruto signed an executive order stopping the compulsory vetting of Identification card applicants in the North Eastern region.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has defended the President’s directive of abolishing extra vetting for Kenyans in North Eastern seeking national identity cards, noting that this does not compromise security.
Speaking in Naivasha on Friday, Mr Murkomen said that the Department of Immigration will instead set strict guidelines for vetting before getting IDs.
The CS said that Kenyans, in future, will not need to apply for IDs, as the Ministry will maximize on technology to capture one’s data at birth and when one attains the required age, they will automatically get one.
According to the CS, to identify those who have or do not have ID, the Department of Immigration will leverage on one’s existing data acquired by the government.
To achieve this, CS Murkomen said that the ministry will use information captured in schools, when seeking services in government institutions and also use the family tree information.
“The biggest debate currently is that we are removing extra vetting requirements for ID. We are not even talking about vetting, we will move it further, we will vet you at birth and once you get your data when you are born the rest you will just wait for your ID and when you attain 18 years, you will not need to apply,” Mr Murkomen said.
His remarks come barely after Kenyans raised concerns that the stopping the compulsory vetting of Identification card applicants will compromise the country’s security.
CS Murkomen dismissed the claims noting that the government is not engaging in political acts saying that his ministry is tasked with ensuring that Kenyans enjoy rights equally without feeling discriminated against.
He said that the policy will not only apply to one corner of the country, as it will be applied to all counties bordering other countries including those bordering Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia.
He assured Kenyans that by removing extra vetting, the government is not engaging in political acts noting that the Ministry is responsible for the country’s security.
“I want to assure Kenyans that by removing extra vetting the government is not compromising security, we are a ministry that is extremely responsible for the security of this country, and we cannot play with such. What has happened is that the processes that we are going to apply now in terms of identifying who has got ID or not, technology will help,” he said.
Earlier this month, President William Ruto signed an executive order stopping the compulsory vetting of Identification card applicants in the North Eastern region.
Speaking in Mandera, President Ruto stated that the process was discriminatory as it only applied to residents of a select group of Kenyans from six counties; Tana River, Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, Isiolo, and Marsabit.
He said that the executive order will end the discrimination that has been in place for the past 60 years where when one goes to apply for an ID card they are scrutinized.
"The executive order will remove the discriminatory vetting process that the children of this region have suffered so that all Kenyan children in Kenya will be counted as equals despite their tribes because we are all equal in the constitution of Kenya," President Ruto said.
