The registrar of persons in Thika Sub-County has urged youths who have attained 18 years to apply for national identification cards in time to avoid complications associated with late application.
Speaking in his office on Tuesday, Thika West Registrar of persons, Jacob Kang'utu said applying for IDs on time would largely assist in minimising the challenges that come with registration of old people and aliens in the region.
“It is challenging to deal with people aged between 25-30 years who come seeking national identification cards because we have to establish what took them so long to apply for the document,” said Kang'utu.
He added: “This is often tricky as we must prove that these people are not criminals who seek refuge in our county. It is also usually tedious finding out the root cause of the delay for application.”
The registrar said one of the biggest reasons why most old people seek IDs is after discovery of the importance of the document while others are driven by desperation to acquire the document.
“The national ID is a very essential document in that, apart from identifying you, it also enables one to carry out transactions. Once people are caught between a rock and a hard place is when they come seeking it,” said Kang'utu.
He further said that his office was often wrongly accused of discrimination against old applicants but insisted that the right procedures have to be followed for an ID to be processed.
He urged the youth to apply for the IDs stating that the duration taken to acquire the document had significantly reduced from three months to only 30 days.