Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has revealed that Kenyans will automatically be issued identity cards (ID) in future upon attaining the age of 18 years.
The CS confirmed that plans are underway to ensure this is rolled out in a way that is aligned with existing security protocols.
He explained that data collected at various stages right from the time of birth will form the basis of automatically issuing IDs to Kenyans upon turning 18.
“We have your information from when you went to school, when you went for services, of your family, family tree across and so you can’t just come and say ‘I want to be a citizen.’ We will see who is your mother, father, sister, uncle…Technology will assist us in these things.”
While supporting President William Ruto’s decision to do away with stringent ID vetting system for the communities along the border counties, Murkomen stated that alternative initiatives have been put in place to address any gaps that may arise from the controversial lifting of the vetting.
How vetting & data collection will be done
He clarified that vetting as well as collection of crucial data will now start at birth to ensure that no Kenyan is inconvenienced when it comes to obtaining the crucial document.
READ: What scrapping of extra ID vetting means for millions of Kenyan Somalis
We are a ministry that is extremely responsible for the security of this country and we cannot play with the security. We are also responsible for ensuring that Kenyans enjoy rights equally without undue discrimination.
The fact that we removed extra vetting does not mean that we have compromised on security of the country. The process that we are going to apply now of identifying who has gotten an ID or who has not, is to leverage the existing data across the board to know who you are.
Ruto's controversial decision to abolish vetting
The vetting exercise was spread across all border counties and not restricted to those bordering Somalia as widely claimed, an allegation that the CS clarified while speaking at the Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge on Friday, February 21.
I want to dissuade all Kenyans not to think about this as about North Eastern or border with Somalia. Don’t think that this policy was applied to one corner of the country; it is not true. “It is applying to all corners of the country, from Tanzania in Lunga Lunga to our border in Turkana with both South Sudan and Uganda to our border in Ethiopia then Somalia.
President William Ruto abolished the vetting process in February 2025, ending a practice that has been in place since the 1990s and recognising the unfair treatment Kenyan Somalis have endured over the years.