Kenya seeks biometric citizen register

KENYA: State to register all citizens in digital database

The Government will register all Kenyans in a national digital database as a measure of addressing security challenges and arrest cases of fake identification documents. Deputy President William Ruto said the move will see a consolidation of all current registers of persons and development of a common database, which will bear biometric details of all those registered.

This will help the Government to address security issues and enhance planning. The database will contain biometric details of all persons, land, establishments and assets. The registration will start in three months. The database will capture new births registration.

There are some interesting details in the story and some important details are missing. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Nepal struggles with Citizenship, ID infrastructure

Getting Nepali citizenship is a tough call (BBC)

Sharad Bheswakar, top cricketer and sporting icon in Nepal, is not actually a Nepali. At least officially, he is not a citizen of the country he calls home.

He was born and raised in Nepal and plays for the national team. He has an Indian father and a Nepali mother, so getting citizenship should not be a problem according to the law of the land.

But his efforts to acquire Nepali citizenship so far have been futile.

“It’s been almost eight to nine years that I’ve been trying to get my citizenship. I’m still facing problems. It’s really frustrating at times,” he says.

A few years ago, he was given a travel document as a special concession so he could play in matches abroad.

Biometric solutions could help in the implementation of what comes out of a political process but they can’t substitute for the process.