By: Finna Kahili

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security says its civil registration outreach campaign, launched last month, is progressing as scheduled. The campaign allows the public to register for national documents such as Identity documents, and birth certificates by going to remote areas in all 14 regions.

The ministry’s spokesperson Margareth Kalo stated the campaign brings services closer to the people as well as boosts registration coverage by visiting hard-to-reach villages, vulnerable communities, the disabled as well as schools.

Kalo indicated that the 2016 Demographic Survey revealed that 10.4% of the population lacked birth certificates, while 12.8%  did not have national identification documents. “So far the registration process is going smoothly and would like to say thank you to the members of the public who showed up to utilise the services we bring close to them, although we have encountered clients without supporting documents,” stated Kalo. National documents are vital for accessing education, employment, and social benefits. Home affairs offices in all 14 regions are encouraged to register persons without national documents during outreach programmes.