RUTO’s govt fumbles to explain why you will be forced to renew your ID every 10 years and Kenyans are not boarding

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 - Principal Secretary of the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services, Julius Bitok has issued a statement explaining the decision by President William Ruto’s government to have the digital identity cards dubbed Maisha card.

This is after Kenyans raised serious questions after it emerged that they will be renewing their IDs every 10 years. 

Maisha Card has a 10-year expiry date.

However, the government has explained that the renewal is standard practice for IDs that contain digital chips across several countries.

“Holders will need to renew their National ID cards every ten years. This is a standard practice in countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Senegal, and France, among others that have implemented an ID with a microchip”, stated Bitok.

Applicants seeking renewal of expired National ID cards will not be required to undertake fresh biometrics. However, they will retake their passport-sized photos due to potential changes in facial features over the years.

Furthermore, while responding to concerns raised by civil society, Bitok stated that the government developed them for several reasons among them being compliance with best practices.

According to Bitok, the Maisha ecosystem complies with regional and international best practices on the standardisation of essential features of personal registration documents including the National ID Card.

Secondly, the government instituted the cards in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirements on cross-border identification documents.

Additionally, the government cited that the Maisha cards have enhanced security features making it difficult to forge and tamper with.

Further, the Maisha cards have digital features that enable the creation of a digital version of the National ID Card.

Another reason that the government provided for the development of the Maisha Cards includes database consolidation where the government can create a master national register, negating the need for multiple and separate personal registration records

The Kenyan DAILY POST