High Court Stops Govt From Increasing Fees Of IDs, Passports For Now

The High Court has temporarily stopped the government from enforcing an increase in service fees for key government services.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi on Thursday, November 9 issued the conservatory orders suspending the directive by Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki pending the hearing and determination of the matter.

"A conservatory order be and is hereby issued suspending Gazette Notices No. 15239-15242 dated 6th November 2023 and/or any other document purporting to give authority to increase or review the charges/fees/levies specified therein pending the hearing and determination of this Application inter-partes," the ruling read in part.

This is after Dr. Magari Gikenyi, a private citizen moved to court to challenge the fees, which saw among others, the fees for replacing identity cards increased from Ksh100 to Ksh2,000.

It was further directed that the application together with the petition be served within three days.

Justice Mugambi ruled that the Milimani-based court would file and serve a response within seven days of issuing the conservatory orders.

"If need be, the Applicant/Petitioner may file a rejoinder/further affidavit within 3 days from the date of receipt of responses," Justice Mugambi further ruled.

The date for confirmation of compliance and further directions was set for November 29, 2023.

The court order now prevents the government from announcing that the fees for replacing identity cards shot up more than 10 times from Ksh100 to Ksh2,000. The government also proposed increasing the fee for first-time ID applicants to Ksh1,000.

Kenyans seeking to change their particulars in their ID card were to be forced to part ways with Ksh1,000 while those seeking identification reports will have to pay Ksh1,000 up from Ksh300.

Furthermore, the charges for acquiring a birth certificate were raised from Ksh50 to Ksh200, the same as acquiring a death certificate.

Late registration of a birth certificate was to cost you Ksh500 from Ksh150 which also applies to the late registration of a death certificate.

The government also raised the fees for ordinary passports from Ksh4,500 to Ksh7,500, for an ordinary 34-page passport.

The conservatory orders were issued after the government, through Roseline Njogu, the Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs, issued an apology over what she termed as a costly error regarding a Gazette Notice which sparked nationwide uproar over the increase of fees for key services.

The Gazette Notice shared with newsrooms had reported that, among others, fees for the issuance of permanent residences for children of Kenyan citizens born outside the country had increased to Ksh1 million.

Furthermore, fees for the processing of permanent residences for children of Kenyan citizens born outside Kenya had doubled to Ksh200,000 from Ksh100,000 while the fees for the issuance of permanent residences for the same children had increased from Ksh500,000.

"Further to my last tweet, I have engaged with Julius Bitok PS Immigration & Citizen Services. He has assured me that the Permanent Residence fees for children of Kenyan citizens were entered in error.

"This fee applies to children of foreigners seeking permanent residence. As I had explained, children of a citizen acquire citizenship by birth," she stated.