EXPLAINER: How IDs, Driving Licences Collection Will Become Easier

EXPLAINER: How IDs, Driving Licences Collection Will Become Easier

Charles Dulo, Chairperson of the Commission on Administrative Justice, revealed that the ombudsman’s office is working with the Registrar of Persons to decentralize ID and driver’s license collection.

Speaking in Nyeri on Tuesday, Dulo stated that numerous Kenyans lacked the necessary identification documents when seeking government services, causing delays as they hurried to register at the last minute.

As such, he indicated that his office, the Ombudsman, was working to get processed paperwork closer to applicants at the sub-county level.

He explained that the current service was frequently flawed, leaving thousands of ID cards and driver’s licenses uncollected at Huduma Centres months after processing.

They discussed the role of the Ombudsman in promoting good governance and accountability at the county level, and strengthening citizen trust in public institutions. pic.twitter.com/7ODkL0FzQk

— Ombudsman Kenya (@KenyasOmbudsman) August 5, 2025

“We are engaging the Registrar of Persons to ensure that once the IDs are ready, they are taken to the sub-county level so that the chiefs, who know the people who have applied for the IDs, can deliver them to the applicants,” he stated.

“We have been informed that the registration bureau sends the applicants a text, but the system is not entirely effective, so we are going to explore other ways of ensuring that once the IDs and other documents are ready, they are taken closer to the people to get their documents.”

He also stated that CAJ was looking to engage with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to fix network issues that have impeded the verification of driving license holders months after applications.

By April 2025, Mount Kenya alone had 25,000 uncollected IDs, 6,000 of which were first-time applications.

Dulo went on to say that his office was urging both the national and county governments to work together to educate the people about the significance of obtaining these documents on time in order to avoid missing out on government services.

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“The Registrar of Persons cited late registration as a big challenge,” he said.

“These documents are not only vital at the time of voting, but they are equally vital in terms of other services, such as registering for the Social Health Authority, applying for loans from the Higher Education Loans Board, and succession because if you are going to get an inheritance, you will be required to have an ID and that is why we are encouraging people who are above 18 to register for IDs.”

This comes only weeks after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen disclosed that the government is sending special equipment to underprivileged groups to speed up ID card registration and processing.

Murkomen stated that the portable battery-powered ‘Mobile Live Capture Unit’ machines would electronically capture people’s data and subsequently be used to register IDs, which would be processed within three days.

EXPLAINER: How IDs, Driving Licences Collection Will Become Easier