Citizens who apply for birth and death certificates will now receive the documents on the same day of application, the government has announced.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the directive that takes effect immediately was part of the reforms being undertaken to clear the backlog of pending applications and to pre-empt frustrations experienced by applicants forced to endure long waits for their documents.
Bitok who was speaking in Meru County during the opening of the Civil Registration Services office for the South Imenti sub-county in Nkubu on Friday, May 5, said the countrywide fast-tracking of the issuance of the certificates is also targeted at encouraging higher levels of registration.
“I am directing all registration officers to ensure every person who walks into our offices leaves with the document on the same day. We are doing this so that, as a country, we can officially record more deaths than the 55% that is the current rate,” he said.
He appealed to chiefs and their assistants and the public to ensure every death is promptly reported to the relevant government offices saying unreported cases posed a threat to effective succession within families whenever death occurs and encouraged criminal acts such as fraud and impersonation.
“What it means when 45 out of every 100 deaths are not registered is that families may not be able to inherit the property of a deceased. In other cases, you will have dead people voting and doing other illegalities.”
He urged residents to take advantage of the new offices to acquire birth certificates which are a mandatory requirement for enrolment in schools and issuance of subsequent identification documents such as Identity Cards (IDs) and passports.
Currently, the national average for birth registration is around 87 percent.
The PS who also opened another Civil Registration Services in Tigania West sub-county in Mikinduri within Meru said more offices will be opened across the country to make it easier for residents to access vital documents.
The opening of the two offices brings to six the number of CSR offices serving the more than 1.5 million population in Meru County.
