Many youths in Garissa are yet to have official national identification cards despite attaining the age of 18 years.
Their efforts to have the important documents have been thwarted by the tiresome processes that could at times lead to their applications rejected.
In July this year, a number of local youths blocked the Garissa Highway in protest of frustrations subjected to them by registration clerks once they submit their documents.
The fact that majority of these youths are Kenyan Somalis has been used as a tool for discrimination.
Those citizens from the Northern Kenya who are lucky to have their documents forwarded to the Nairobi head office for processing are no better.
The documents take ages to bear fruits, with some youths who have so far received their IDs attesting that they had to wait for up to two years to receive. However, youths in some parts of the country like Nairobi have their IDs processed in less than a month.
The question that now emerges is, are these citizens not of equal stance? Time is now up for the government to treat its citizens equally and subject them to equal conditions without due favouritism.
The relevant department of the national government should put up installations at county levels to ease up the processes so that the youthful citizens can have the vital documents without much frustration.