The Government has today clarified that all eligible Kenyans wishing to acquire new national Identification Cards (IDs) will get them free of charge.

‘’ All new applications of IDs are issued free of charge,’’ said Mr. Musyoka.

Addressing a press conference at his Jogoo House office, the Vice President said only persons who have lost their IDs are required to pay Ksh 300 for replacement.

Mr. Musyoka who was flanked by Permanent Secretaries Dr. Ludeki Chweya (Home affairs), Emmanuel Kisombe (Immigration) expressed concern that millions of youth are yet to acquire national IDs to enable them transact day-to-day activities including participation in the forthcoming General Elections.

He assured Kenyans that the Government will speed up the registration exercise.

The Vice President disclosed that the ministry of Finance has set aside Ksh 400million in 2011/2012 supplementary budget and a further Ksh 948million will be provided in the next financial year to facilitate procurement of materials and issuance of the vital document.

He noted that out of the 1.4million IDs that were processed since September last year, thousands of the cards remain uncollected at various Chiefs offices across the country.

He called on the owners of such cards to collect them from their respective chief’s offices, adding that all unregistered persons should take advantage of the mobile registration countrywide to register.

‘’ I appeal to all unregistered persons to seek registration during this period,’’ he said.

The Vice President at the same time said that the requirement that married women should produce affidavits or are referred to their parents for registration has been waived in order to expedite the process and enroll as many eligible Kenyans as possible.

In view of the dual citizenship provision in the constitution, the Vice President noted, registration of persons in the Diaspora has been launched.

‘’ Registration in London will cover countries in Europe while registration in Washington, USA will extend to the rest of the Americas. This exercise will be rolled out to South Africa, Dubai and other parts of the world in due course,’’ he said.

Kaino/VPPS