The government is weighing a proposal to scrap application fees for birth certificates in a move aimed at significantly boosting civil registration and ensuring more Kenyans are formally documented, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has revealed.
Speaking on Wednesday, January 28, during the commissioning of the Assistant County Commissioner’s office in Inoi Division, Kirinyaga County, Murkomen said the proposal is part of broader reforms within the civil registration system and is intended to remove financial barriers that have kept many citizens outside the official records.
He noted that President William Ruto is expected to make the final decision on the matter once ongoing consultations with key stakeholders are concluded.
According to Murkomen, the government is keen to replicate the success recorded after the waiver of fees for national identity card registration, which led to a sharp increase in applications across the country. He said similar results are expected if fees for birth certificate applications are scrapped, especially in rural and marginalised areas where registration levels remain low.
“You will soon be notified because the President is weighing many issues around this matter. It will be done similarly to the waiver of ID registration and application fees to enable us to document more births in line with the government’s manifesto,” Murkomen said.
The CS explained that the lack of birth certificates has had far-reaching consequences for many Kenyans, limiting access to essential services such as education, healthcare, employment, and government programmes.
He added that high application costs, coupled with long distances to registration offices, have historically locked out a significant number of families, particularly those living in remote rural areas.
Murkomen said the government recognises that birth registration is a fundamental right and a critical first step in ensuring that every Kenyan is recognised by the state. He noted that children without birth certificates often face challenges when enrolling in school, sitting national examinations, or accessing healthcare and social protection services later in life.
In addition to the proposed fee waiver, the Interior CS announced that the government has approved the decentralisation of civil registration services to make them more accessible to the public. Under the new arrangement, civil registration offices will be housed at Constituency ID registration centres across the country, allowing Kenyans to apply for both birth and death certificates closer to where they live.
“We have also agreed to decentralise civil registration offices across all constituencies to ensure more people register and access these crucial documents,” Murkomen said, adding that the move is expected to drastically cut travel costs and waiting times for applicants.
The decentralisation plan is part of a wider government strategy to improve service delivery and ensure that no Kenyan is left behind in accessing critical documentation. Officials believe that bringing services closer to the people will not only increase registration numbers but also improve the accuracy and completeness of national population data.
Currently, under the Births and Deaths Registration Rules gazetted by the Ministry of Interior, the cost of obtaining a standard Kenyan birth certificate stands at Ksh200, up from the earlier Ksh50. The revised Kenya Gazette notice also sets the same fee of Ksh200 for death certificates.
For births registered more than six months after the date of birth, applicants are required to pay Ksh500 for late registration. The same late registration fee applies to deaths that are recorded after the stipulated period, in a bid to encourage timely reporting while still allowing delayed cases to be documented.
In cases of re-registration, such as replacing a lost certificate or making amendments to existing records, including correcting names or other details, the fee has been set at Ksh1,000.
Murkomen pointed out that these costs, though modest to some, remain prohibitive for many low-income households, underscoring the need for policy interventions that promote universal registration.
The proposed birth certificate fee waiver follows other recent government measures aimed at easing access to identification documents. In October last year, the government announced a six-month waiver on fees charged for replacing national identity cards and changing personal details, a move that was widely welcomed and resulted in increased uptake.
If approved, the scraping of birth certificate application fees is expected to further strengthen Kenya’s civil registration system and support the government’s commitment to inclusive service delivery and accurate population records.
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