- Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen announced the launch of a digital birth certificate system at a rally in Elgeyo Marakwet on Tuesday, October 13
- The rollout targets three counties in the Rift Valley as part of Mashujaa Day celebrations, before its extension to other regions
- Immigration PS Belio Kipsang said the digital birth notification system will be extended to SHA-contracted hospitals within three months
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Nancy Odindo is a current affairs writer at Tuko.co.ke (joined in 2023). She has one year of experience in print and more than five years in digital media.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has announced the launch of a digital birth certificate system in three Rift Valley counties, a move aimed at eliminating the manual processes that have long frustrated parents seeking to register newborns in Kenya.
Source: Facebook
Speaking at a political rally in Elgeyo Marakwet on Tuesday, October 13, Murkomen said the system would be rolled out in Nandi, Uasin Gishu, and Elgeyo Marakwet as part of Mashujaa Day celebrations.
He also used the occasion to confirm that the government had implemented President William Ruto's earlier directive to issue national identity cards free of charge to all Kenyans.
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How the digital birth certificate system will work
Under the new arrangement, parents will no longer be required to manually obtain a physical birth notification before applying for their child's birth certificate.
Instead, birth details captured at a health facility will be shared digitally with civil registration authorities, triggering the automatic issuance of a birth certificate.
"Parents will no longer need to go looking for birth certificates from government offices. Once they go to the hospital, they will automatically be issued with their children's birth certificates," Murkomen said at the rally.
The development addresses a persistent challenge in Kenya's civil registration system. Many parents have struggled with misplacing physical birth notifications, which are required to initiate the preparation of birth certificates, and have previously raised concerns with Huduma Kenya about the absence of a digital alternative.
Rollout to SHA-contracted hospitals within three months
Immigration Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said the digital birth notification system, referred to internally as an E-notification, would be extended to hospitals contracted by the Social Health Authority (SHA) within the next three months.
Kipsang noted that the Interior Ministry was in the final stages of discussions with the Ministry of Health to integrate the civil registration system with existing hospital management systems.
Once operational, the integrated platform will replace the physical birth notification that has traditionally served as the entry point for obtaining a birth certificate.
The announcement comes as the government accelerates its push to digitise public services, with civil registration identified as a priority area due to the high volume of transactions and the downstream impact on access to government services, including education enrolment and social protection programmes.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
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