Editor's Review

"The Commission acknowledges the serious complaints reported concerning delays in the processing and issuance of ID cards."

The Director of the National Registration Bureau (NRB) has been given a seven-day ultimatum by the Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) to respond to questions raised about delays in the issuance of identity cards.

In a statement on Thursday, August 1, the Office of the Ombudsman noted that it had acknowledged multiple complaints across media platforms over the processing and issuance of the documents.

“Pursuant to Section 8 of the Commission on Administrative Justice Act, 2011, the Commission acknowledges the serious complaints reported concerning delays in the processing and issuance of ID cards.

"The Commission has given the Director, National Registration Bureau seven days to respond to the delay in the issuance of identification documents," read part of the statement by the Office of the Ombudsman.

File image of Immigration PS Julius Bitok.

The commission stated that according to media reports, students enrolling in various higher learning institutions had expressed concerns over inordinate delays adversely affecting their right to apply for critical services like financing from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).

It directed the NRB director to issue a response within seven days addressing the challenges the bureau was facing in the processing of the documents and the measures it had taken to resolve the crisis.

The commission further asked the NRB director to address the timelines of the issuance of pending ID cards and service delivery timelines regarding the issuance of the documents.

This comes after Immigration and Citizen Affairs Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said that the NRB had acquired a modern printer and enhanced the printing capacity to 30,000 IDs per day against an average demand of 10,000 applications.