NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 29 – National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has pledged a Sh1 million cash prize to the chief who registers the highest number of new Identity Card and voter registrations in Bungoma County by mid-2026.
Speaking during a meeting with political leaders and administrators in Bungoma, Wetan’ula urged them to take advantage of President William Ruto’s directive exempting National ID applicants from vetting to accelerate the registration process.
“I want to raise something for you chiefs. I’ll start a competition among the locations based on the numbers you have. By mid-next year, the chief and their assistant who record the highest number of ID and voter registrations will receive Sh1 million,” Wetang’ula announced.
He reminded leaders that the presidential order was not exclusive to the North Eastern region but also applied to many border counties and towns.
The Speaker also questioned why Bungoma County, despite being the third most populous in Kenya, registered only about 600,000 voters in the 2022 General Election.
“Bungoma is the third-largest county in Kenya after Nairobi and Kakamega. But when you look at registered voters, Nakuru has 1 million, Kiambu 1.2 million, Nairobi around 3 million, while Bungoma is still at the 600,000 mark… how will we be taken seriously?” he asked.
According to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Bungoma County has a population of 1.6 million.
In February 2025, President William Ruto signed the Presidential Proclamation on Registration and Issuance of IDs to Border Counties to simplify the process of acquiring identification documents.
For years, residents of the North Eastern region faced extra vetting before obtaining birth certificates and national identity cards.
Wetangula also urged leaders to encourage residents to register for the Social Health Authority (SHA) to benefit from the program’s medical cover.
Source: capitalfm
