Wednesday February 12, 2025

President William Ruto greets local leaders during his visit to Northeastern Kenya, where he announced the removal of a decades-old vetting process for national ID registration.

NAIROBI, Kenya (HOL) — President William Ruto’s decision to eliminate a six-decade-old verification process for obtaining national identification cards in Kenya’s northeastern region has ignited political and security debates across the country.

The verification process, which required ethnic Somalis in border counties to undergo additional scrutiny when applying for IDs, was scrapped last week as part of Ruto’s broader initiative to unify the country and implement his campaign pledges. The announcement came during his visit to Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, and Isiolo counties, where he also reopened the long-closed Garissa immigration office.

Former police spokesperson Charles Owino has defended the president’s decision, arguing that eliminating the vetting process will help curb corruption. Owino said the additional vetting requirements had become an avenue for bribery and extortion by officials in charge of the process.

“The vetting which the Somalis were subjected to, to be honest, promoted corruption. We just created an opportunity for people to eat,” Owino stated in an interview on February 10, 2025.

He emphasized that Kenya’s standard ID registration process already includes sufficient verification procedures applicable to all citizens and that additional vetting for Somalis was unnecessary and discriminatory. Owino also pointed out the logistical challenges many Somalis faced, particularly those raised in urban centers who were forced to travel to their ancestral villages for vetting.

“You find an individual who went to primary school, high school, and university in Nairobi, yet his children are sent to Mandera to be vetted. They were born here, and their documents read here,” he added.

Critics argue that removing the vetting process weakens identity verification and poses potential national security risks. Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, a former Rift Valley regional commissioner, warned that without the additional screening, the government could struggle to differentiate between Somali nationals from Somalia and Kenyan-born Somalis.

“If people can obtain IDs without verification, how do we distinguish between a Somali from across the border and a Kenyan from Wajir, Garissa, or Mandera? The language, culture, and religion are identical,” Natembeya told local media.

Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka has accused Ruto of using the reform as a tool to influence voter registration ahead of the 2027 elections. Speaking in Kilifi on February 9, 2025, Musyoka alleged that Ruto was attempting to strategically expand his political alliances through the elimination of the vetting process.

“This man is panicking. He thinks he can register voters here and there by providing people with IDs. I assure you that those who benefit from this will be the first to turn against him. Everyone is struggling, just like the others,” Musyoka said.

Despite the controversy, regional leaders have welcomed the change, saying it ends longstanding discrimination against ethnic Somalis in Kenya. Wajir Deputy Governor Ahmed Mohamed Abdi (Caato) argued that the vetting process had unfairly marginalized Somali communities and made it difficult for them to access national identity documents.

“Somalis are a nomadic people who frequently move, and obtaining ID cards has always been a challenge. The removal of these restrictions is long overdue and brings equality to the process,” he said in an interview with the BBC.

He added that security and identity documentation should not be conflated, emphasizing that Somalis in Kenya should follow the same registration procedures as citizens.

Faruk Kibet, a senior aide to Ruto, dismissed security concerns, accusing opponents of using the issue to stir ethnic divisions.

“Those criticizing this move are playing tribal politics. They are attempting to divide the country along ethnic lines for political gain,” Kibet said.