Registry excluded and unhappy

By MOUA OMOA
REGISTRAR-General Augustus Wagambio is disappointed that the National Civil Registry office has been left out of the Electronic Identification project.
He said the office should be included because it was the only organisation mandated by law under the Civil Registry Act to collect information of all citizens in the country. But this has been overlooked for some reason.
“We knew what was going to happen in terms of the e-ID system and we went out conducting workshops. But we have been left out in the initial discussions and planning of the project.
“The first direction of the government should has been to improve its data collection institution so that projects as such can be integrated and given enough funding so that the civil registry is properly established and becomes operational,” Wagambio said.
He said with the new biometric system and e-ID, there were processes and procedures required to protect the office of civil registry. The Civil Registry Act will be reviewed to accommodate these changes.
“The Department of National Planning and National Statistical Office are trying to run the e-ID system.
“But in my view they should be the end user.
“The civil registry office should provide the information required with the technology provided.”
Meanwhile, he said there was a lack of funding this year which had caused many constraints in their operations.
“Civil registry has never been given any developmental funds and we are constantly running out of birth registry information forms as well as system forms to print certificates. How can we cater for the 300 to 500 people who come to our office to collect certificates?
“We are also short of staff and we need government help to properly establish our offices in the provinces, districts and wards so they become more operational to assist people at that level,” Wagambio said.