Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i on Thursday, October 31, caused a stir in Kwale County when he visited the county's civil registration bureau.
In a video posted on his official communication platform, Matiang'i responded to claims by residents that they had been frustrated by government officials in the search for birth certificates for their children.
The concerns were escalated by the area MCA who stated that the officials dismissed the residents with claims that there was a shortage of materials, which delayed the processing of the documents.
"Some of our students have not been able to sit for the exams because of the lack of certificates. The officials here are claiming that there are no printing materials in the offices and thus, they cannot print the certificates," the MCA stated.
Matiang'i turned his attention to the officer in charge of the department and demanded answers for the conundrum that had been reported by the MCA.
The officer was at pains to explain the cause of the backlog that had plagued his office, stating that the Kwale office was not the only one affected, but that the entire Coast region suffered the same challenge.
"There is a backlog of 70,000 applications in the Coast region and there are no materials to process the new applications," he defended himself to the CS.
"What do you mean there is no supply of birth certificates? What did you do with the Ksh1.5 million that we allocated you to expedite this process?" Matiang'i posed.
The officer narrated that the money given to the bureau had been used to clear the previous backlog, and the current case was about new applications.
Matiang'i promised to deliever new birth certificates to the region by Monday, Novermber 4, to help alleviate the crisis once and for all.
