Turkana MPs accuse govt of discrimination in IDs issuance

Two Members of Parliament from the Turkana community have criticised the government over the alleged vetting of the community members before being issued with national Identity Cards.

The MPs took issue with the government claiming that was taking to too long to issue members of the community with the ID cards as compared to other communities.

MPs Christopher Nakuleu (Turkana North) and Protus Akunja (Loima) said that the vetting process is against the spirit of the law since the community is not a threat to national security.

The legislators said that failure to acquire the crucial documents, the community risks being locked out of key processes such as employment and participating in the elections.

They further said that the delayed and complicated process of getting the ID and voters cards has also spilt to other areas such as Laikipia and Samburu.

Nakuleu, the vice chairperson of the Regional Integration Committee in the National Assembly, said majority of their members were being left out in government appointments at both the county and national levels.

He termed the complicated process as a systematic tactic to discriminate against the community.

On his part, Akunjah said that the move was rendering them economically ‘malnourished’ as they could not get jobs without these documents.

He said the National Assembly’s Committee on Administration and National Security and the Committee on Regional Integration will table a report on the floor of the House for deliberation on the way forward

The two spoke at Rumuruti Catholic Hall in Laikipia when the Committee on Regional Integration visited the members of the community on Thursday, September 29.

By Peter Mwangi