Wajir — It will now be easier for the residents of Northern Kenya to acquire national identification documents after President William Ruto signed a decree ending years of State discrimination in the issuance of the vital documents.
Signing the Presidential Proclamation on Registration and Issuance of IDs to Border Counties, President Ruto termed the practice unjust and disenfranchising.
"If it's about vetting, let all children of Kenya be vetted equally without any discrimination," he said.
He made the remarks after publicly signing and reading out the decree at Orahey Grounds in Wajir Town.
For years, residents of North Eastern have endured extra-vetting and ethnic profiling by the State before they acquire birth certificates and national identity cards.
"We want the people of Northern Kenya to feel equal to the rest of the country," the President said.
Present were Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Governors Ahmed Abdullah Mohamed (Wajir), Mohamad Adan Khalif (Mandera) and Nathif Jama Adam (Garissa).
The President is on a four-day development tour of North-Eastern Kenya.
He began on Tuesday in Mandera and was in Wajir on Wednesday.
On Thursday and Friday, he will visit Garissa and Isiolo counties respectively.
On electricity, President Ruto announced that the government would spend Sh6.9 billion to connect tens of thousands of households to power in the three Northern Kenya counties.
"As we connect communities, we must also connect public utilities, including schools," he said when he commissioned a last-mile electricity connection at Shuublow Community and Secondary Electrification Project in Wajir East Constituency.
Once complete, the project will make the use of solar in thousands of boreholes in the county possible, thus addressing the acute water shortage the residents face.
Addressing students of Shuublow Mixed Day Secondary School, President Ruto said the government has invested heavily in reforming the education sector so that no Kenyan learner misses an education opportunity.
While opening the Tarbaj Teachers Training College in Tarbaj Constituency, President Ruto said the institution would help train more teachers in the region and thus alleviate chronic staff shortages in Northern Kenya.
At Bula Barwaqo, Wajir Town, the President flagged off the vaccination and the National Livestock Restocking programmes targeting vulnerable families who lost animals during the drought and El-Nino seasons that affected the country not long ago.
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He urged pastoralists to vaccinate their animals to combat diseases that have prevented Kenyan meat from accessing markets abroad.
On roads, the President said the government will tarmack 750km of the road that traverses the three counties at a cost of KSh100 billion in partnership with the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the Arab Bank.
"This country belongs to all of us, and we must develop all corners of Kenya equally," he said.
He called on the residents of North Eastern to support the broadbased government, saying it would enhance unity and national cohesion.
During the development tour, the President also assessed construction work at the Wajir Township Affordable Housing Project, Wajir Hospital and the Wajir County Aggregation and Industrial Park.
He also commissioned the Wajir Satelite Blood Transfusion Centre and the refurbished Wajir Museum.
Others who accompanied him during the tour included Cabinet Secretaries, MPs, and MCAs.
