On Thursday, May 16, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki introduced a Unique Personal Identification (UPI) number to be used in the issuance of birth and death certificates.
In a legal notice, Kindiki announced amendments to the Births and Deaths Registration Act. The Births and Deaths Registration (Amendment) Rules, 2024, stipulate that each individual will have one UPI number in their lifetime.
“The registrar shall assign each separate entry a unique personal identification number. The same unique personal identification number issued at the registration of a person’s birth shall be used as the unique personal identification number during the registration of death of the same person,” the legal notice outlined.
Recognizing the existence of a UPI number now, Kindiki further directed that the register of births and deaths be maintained by a registrar in a compulsory registration area. Additionally, the register shall be kept in both loose-leaf and electronic form and contain the required particulars.
“The register of births and deaths to be maintained by a registrar or Registrar-General in registration areas other than compulsory registration areas shall be a register book and electronic register,” Kindiki directed.
The Interior CS also confirmed the proposed price revision for the issuance of birth and death certificates that had been suggested in March 2024.
The cost of Certification of Current Birth will now be Kes200, up from Kes.50. Late registration of birth and death certificates has also been increased from Kes.100 to Kes.150.
Conversely, re-registration of birth certifications will cost Kes1,000, up from Kes.90.
