MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AND COORDINATION OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CIVIL REGISTRATION SERVICES KENYA JANET W. MUCHERU civregke@gmail.com April 2018

INTRODUCTION Registration of births and deaths was introduced in Kenya in 1904 (then East African Protectorate). At that time, registration of both births and deaths only applied to Europeans and Americans. In 1928, the Births and Deaths Act (Cap 149) was enacted. The Act provided only for the registration of Europeans, Americans and Asians resident in Kenya.

Cont’d.. After independence, registration of births and deaths for all Kenyan citizens and foreigners residing in Kenya was progressively introduced, beginning in Nairobi (The Capital City). Other Districts were gradually declared compulsory registration areas and on 1st September 1971, registration became compulsory in the whole country.

Cont’d.. The Civil Registration Services (CRS) – Kenya is a Department under the Ministry of Interior & Coordination of National Government. The Department derives its mandate from The Births and Deaths Registration Act.

Cont’d.. The Act provides for compulsory and immediate registration of all births and deaths that occur in Kenya, without regard to nationality. It also provides for optional registration of births and deaths of Kenyan citizens that occur outside the country. CRS also administers part of the Legitimacy Act (Cap. 145), which gives the mandate to re-register the births of persons who were born illegitimate but are legitimized by the subsequent marriage of the parents.

CORE FUNCTIONS OF THE CIVIL REGISTRATION SERVICES Registration of all births and deaths that occur in Kenya and those of Kenyans occurring abroad; Preserve, secure, maintain and update births and deaths records; Issuance of birth and death certificates; Production and dissemination of Vital Statistics; Carry out recognition and re-registration upon legitimization; Undertake any other function in relation to birth and death registration as may be directed from time to time or as the law may require.

REGISTRATION PROCESS Registration of births and deaths in Kenya is carried out on agency basis, by the Assistant Chiefs and Medical Personnel. The Assistant Chiefs notify birth and death events occurring at home while Medical Personnel notify events that occur in health facilities. There are two forms of registration namely; current and late. 1. Current Registration These are events (birth/death) which are registered within 6 months from the date of occurrence.

Cont’d.. The Assistant Chiefs and Medical Personnel enter the information in designated registers of birth and death as is required. The information is relayed regularly to the Sub-County Civil Registrar (usually monthly or weekly for busy hospitals). The Sub-County Civil Registrar (SCCR) undertakes processing of the registers by scrutinizing the registers for correctness and completeness. If satisfied, the Registrar indexes the registers by appending a registration number running sequentially on each register.

Cont’d.. He then completes the registration process by appending his signature in each register and the duplicate. The SCCR is required by law to forward a duplicate of each register to the National Registry regularly (monthly) for custody. Upon registration, the register is thereafter open for issuance of certificate and statistical analysis. The Registrar is expected to undertake regular monitoring of registration and undertake audits of registration activities by the registration agents.

Cont’d.. 2. Late Registration Late registration is where an event is reported/notified more than six months after the date of occurrence. The agents (Assistant Chiefs and Medical Personnel) are not authorized to undertake late registration, this is sole responsibility of the Civil Registration Officers. Late registration requires the applicant to produce specific documents in support of the claim. These include and are not limited to: child clinic card, copy of a Maternity Register, school leaving certificate, letter from the Headteacher, parents identity card among others as the Registrar may require.

CURRENT STATUS OF REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS As at January 2019, the digitization of births and deaths register documentation was at 50% nationally. The digitization covers documents of up to 2013. The digitization does not include birth certificates. Only the primary documents from which a birth certificate is prepared are digitized. The Civil Registration Services has documented 64.1% of births and 41.9% of deaths. This means that 35.9% of births and 58.1% of deaths are not registered.

CHALLENGES FACED The management of births and deaths; registration, storage, retrieval, and processing has for a long time been substantively manual. This manual process has: Hampered comprehensive registration and the ability to share the data with other intended usages; Caused difficulties in maintaining timely, accurate and reliable population related data to inform national planning activities; Caused difficulties in undertaking late registration upon legitimization and recognition.

Cont’d.. 2. Inadequate ICT network coverage countrywide to enable the use of a computerized system across the entire country. Inadequate budgetary resources that hamper effective field supervision, procuring registration materials and sustaining awareness campaigns. Due to lack of easy access to civil registration offices in some areas, births at homes are not notified immediately and in some cases fail to be notified. Moreso in some counties, parents have to walk/travel long distances to collect the certificates.

National Successful Practices Mother and Child Health (MCH) Registration strategy Civil Registration Services entered into collaboration with Ministry of Health to accelerate registration of birth in 2014. The strategy provides for an excellent opportunity to ensure that all births are registered. Over 90% infants come into contact with health facilities for BCG and other routine Vaccines. The strategy provides for registration of unregistered births especially those occurring at home to be registered during immunization.

Cont’d.. Proposal of a policy to issue a Universal Personal Identifier at (UPI) at birth This will increase registration and certification. 3. Knowledge , Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey It revealed the barriers to registration of births and deaths and identified the possible communication issues. 4. Communication for Behavioral Impact (COMBI) This strategy contributed to securing children with recognition of their legal identity and ensuring rights of access to public/ essential services.

Cont’d.. It focused on five integrated areas; administrative mobilization, community mobilization, advertising, interpersonal communication and point- of –service promotion. 5. Work in Progress for and End to End Automation of business processes. This will ensure full execution of operations on a digital platform and ensure all other social services are linked to Civil Registration Services.

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