National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has criticised Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya for opposing the lifting of vetting before the issuance of national identity cards.
Speaking on Monday in Bungoma, Wetangula maintained that the vetting requirement was not solely applied to the Somali community in Northern Kenya but also affected residents of several border counties.
''You know that we are border county, and I recently saw a Governor from Trans Nzoia criticizing the lifting of vetting on IDs. It has been done to appear that the issue of vetting was only targeting the Somalis in northern Kenya,'' Wetangula stated.
Wetang’ula revealed that people in Bungoma, Busia, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, and Turkana also faced challenges in acquiring IDs due to the vetting.
''Bungoma, Busia, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Turkana and all frontier counties were affected by vetting to get an ID. You chiefs know that we have many people who are above 60 years of age without IDs,'' Wetangula added.
The Speaker added: ''Why is it that as leaders we are talking about the IDs issue, an ID in Kenya is life for citizens. Without it, you cannot do essential things like entering a supermarket or opening a bank account.''
According to Wetangula, the lifting of the vetting by President William Ruto was instrumental in addressing the bottlenecks Kenyans were facing in the application of the ID cards.
Wetangula further advised all Kenyans that despite the order being made in Mandera, it affected all Kenyans, and therefore, no Kenyan should be subjected to the vetting process.
He also announced that he would launch a competition in Bungoma County that will see chiefs and their assistants who have performed well in ID and voter registration by June 2026 receive a heavy cash prize.
The best-performing chief and his assistant in ID and voter registration would also be feted with Ksh1 million in June next year, according to Wetangula.
According to the speaker, the competition will be regulated by a team of MCAs and the Bungoma County Speaker, Emanuel Situma.
"I want to start a competition among our locations based on the numbers you have, and we have people here who will do the Math. By mid-next year, the chief and his assistant who have registered more IDs and have also helped get voters' IDs, I will give Ksh1 Million to that location by June next year," Wetangula announced.
