LAWS OF KENYA

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ACT

CHAPTER 107

Revised Edition 2015 [2014]

Published by the National Council for Law Reporting
with the Authority of the Attorney-General
www.kenyalaw.org
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CHAPTER 107

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ACT

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Short title.
2. Application.
3. Interpretation.
4. Appointment of Principal Registrar and staff.
5. Register.
6. Registration.
7. Registration of persons returning from abroad.
8. Power to demand proof of information.
9. Registration officer to issue identity cards.
10. Production and inspection of identity cards.
11. Entries in identity card.
12. Proof of exemption.
13. Evidential value of certificates.
14. Offences and penalties.
15. Offences cognizable to police.
16. Rules.
17. Validity of identity cards previously issued.
17A. Powers of arrest without warrant.
18. Prosecution of offences.
18A. Power to cancel registration and revoke an identity card.
SCHEDULE

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CHAPTER 107

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ACT

[Date of commencement: 16th May, 1949.]
An Act of Parliament to make provision for the registration of persons and
for the issue of identity cards, and for purposes connected therewith
[Act No. 33 of 1947, Cap. 50 (1948), Act No. 13 of 1951, Act No. 39 of 1956, L.N. 140/1956,
L.N. 172/1960, L.N. 604/1963, L.N. 2/1964, L.N. 236/1964, Act No. 21 of 1966, Act No. 11 of
1979, Act No. 18 of 1979, Act No. 13 of 1980, Act No. 9 of 1987, Act No. 21 of 1990, Act No.
2 of 2002, Act No. 12 of 2012, Act No. 19 of 2014, Act No 25 of 2015, Act No. 36 of 2016.]

1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Registration of Persons Act.
2. Application
This Act shall apply to all persons who are citizens of Kenya and who have
attained the age of eighteen years or over or where no proof of age exists, are of
the apparent age of eighteen years or over.
[Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 2, Act No. 13 of 1980, Sch.]

3. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
“authorised officer” means a registration officer authorized by the Principal
Registrar to exercise the powers or perform the duties and functions in respect
of which the expression is used;
“chief fingerprint officer”, “deputy chief fingerprint officer, senior
fingerprint officer”, “fingerprint officer” and “senior fingerprint assistant”
means the persons appointed as such by the Principal Registrar under section
4(2);
“Director” means the Director of National Registration appointed by the
Public Service Commission;
“District Registrar” and “Provincial Registrar” means the persons
appointed as such by the Principal Registrar under section 4(3);
“identity card” means a card issued under section 9;
“Principal Registrar” and “Deputy Principal Registrar” means the
persons appointed as such under section 4;
“register” means the register established and maintained under section 5;
“registered person” means a person who is registered under this Act;
“registration document” means a document used for the purposes of
registration of persons under this Act whether prescribed or not;
“registration officer” means the Principal Registrar, Deputy Principal
Registrar and any of the persons appointed under section 4(2);
“senior assistant principal registrar”, “assistant principal registrar”,
“senior registrar”, “registrar” and “assistant Registrar” means the persons

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appointed as such by the Principal Registrar under section 4(2).

[Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 3, Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 2,
Act No. 21 of 1990, Sch., Act No 25 of 2015, Sch.]

4. Appointment of Principal Registrar and staff

(1) The Minister shall, by notice in the Gazette, appoint officers to be Principal
Registrar and Deputy Principal Registrar for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Principal Registrar may, by notice in the Gazette, appoint the officers
specified in the Schedule for the purposes of the Act.
(3) The Minister may by order published in the Gazette amend the Schedule.
(4) The Principal Registrar may, by notice in the Gazette, appoint any of the
persons appointed under subsection (2) to be Provincial Registrar or the District
Registrar for any province or district for the purposes of this Act.
[L.N. 604/1963, Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 4, Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 3.]

5. Register
(1) The Principal Registrar shall cause to be kept a register of all persons
in Kenya to whom this Act applies, in which there shall be entered the following
particulars in respect of each person—
(a) registration number;
(b) name (in full);
(c) sex;
(d) declared tribe or race;
(e) date of birth or apparent age, and place of birth;
(f) occupation, profession, trade or employment;
(g) place of residence and postal address, if any;
(h) finger and thumb impressions but in case of missing fingers and
thumbs, palm or toe or palm and toe impressions;
(i) date of registration;
(j) such other particulars as may be prescribed.
(2) Any public, officer, duly authorized by the Minister in writing in that behalf,
may, in the exercise of his official duties, inspect the register and make extracts
therefrom.
[Act No. 13 of 1951, s. 3, L.N. 140/1956, L.N. 172/1960,
L.N. 604/1963, Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 5, Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 4.]

6. Registration
(1) Every person who attains or has attained the age of eighteen years and
is unregistered shall be liable to registration under this Act and shall within ninety
days of attaining that age present himself before a registration officer and register
himself by giving to the registration officer the particulars specified in subsection
(1) of section 5, and for that purpose shall permit his finger and thumb or toe or
palm impressions to be recorded in any manner prescribed.
(2) The Principal Registrar may, by notice in the Gazette or in such other
manner as he may think fit to bring the contents thereof to the notice of the persons
affected thereby, require any person or class of persons in any particular area of
Kenya to attend before a registration officer at such dates as may be specified

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in the notice for the purposes of registering under the provisions of this Act; and
any such person, upon being so required, shall attend and give to the registration
officer the particulars specified in subsection (1) of section 5 and for that purpose
shall permit his finger, thumb, palm or toe impressions to be recorded in the manner
prescribed.
(3) Where the Principal Registrar issues a notice in respect of any area under
subsection (2), any unregistered person being of a class of persons required to
register by the notice who enters that area or who, being within that area, thereafter
becomes liable to registration shall present himself forthwith before a registration
officer, and shall register himself in the manner provided in subsection (2).
(4) A requirement under subsection (2) may be made notwithstanding that any
person or class of persons has, prior to that requirement, been registered under
this Act.
(5) Where any person is required to register under subsection (2) and has been,
prior to that requirement, registered under this Act and issued with an identity card,
he shall, on being required by a registration officer so to do, forthwith surrender
that identity card.
[Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 5, Act No. 21 of 1990, Sch.]

7. Registration of persons returning from abroad

Any person who, by reason of his absence from Kenya at the time at which he
would otherwise have been required to register under this Act, is not a registered
person, shall within thirty days of his entry into Kenya attend before a registration
officer for the purpose of being registered.
[Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 7.]

8. Power to demand proof of information

(1) A registration officer may require any person who has given any information
in pursuance of this Act or rules made thereunder to furnish such documentary
or other evidence of the truth of that information as it is within the power of that
person to furnish.
(1A) The Director may establish identification committees or appoint persons
as identification agents to assist in the authentication of information furnished by
a parent or guardian.
[Act No. 19 of 2014, s. 23.]

9. Registration officer to issue identity cards

(1) Upon the registration of a person under this Act, the registration officer shall
within a period of thirty days from the date of registration issue an identity card in
the prescribed form to that person.
(2) Every identity card shall contain—
(a) a photograph, of the prescribed size and type, of the registered
person; and
(b) such of the finger and thumb or palm or toe impressions of the
registered person as the registration officer may require,
and for the purpose of obtaining them the registered person shall permit his
photograph and his finger and thumb or palm or toe impression to be taken:
Provided that a registered person may elect, or be required by a registration
officer, to supply a photograph of himself in duplicate where the registration officer

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is satisfied that the photographs are of the prescribed size and type and have been
taken within the prescribed time.
(3) A registered person whose identity card is torn, worn out, mutilated,
tampered with or otherwise rendered unserviceable may attend upon a registration
officer and apply for renewal of the identity card upon payment of such fee, if any,
as may be prescribed and shall at the time surrender the torn, worn out, mutilated,
tampered with or otherwise unserviceable identity card;
(4) Upon the re-registration of a person under subsection (3), the registration
officer shall issue a new identity card to that person, and the provisions of
subsection (2) shall apply thereto.
(5) Every person to whom an identity card has been issued shall keep the card
in safe custody.
(6) Any person who loses his identity card shall, without undue delay, report the
loss to the nearest registration officer, who, on payment of such fee, if any, as may
be prescribed and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, shall issue to
that person a new identity card within a period of fourteen days from the date of
payments of fees:
Provided that if the registration officer is satisfied that the loss was through no
fault or neglect of that person the new identity card shall be issued free of charge.
(7) Any person who finds, or who comes into possession of, an identity card
which does not belong to him shall without undue delay and without charging any
fee therefor, return it either to its owner or to the nearest registration officer or
alternatively to the nearest police station.
[Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 8, Act No. 18 of 1979, Sch., Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 6,
Act No. 21 of 1990, Sch., Act No. 2 of 2002, Sch, Act No. 36 of 2016, s. 40.]

10. Production and inspection of identity cards

(1) Any authority to whom a person, required to be registered under this Act,
applies for the grant of any licence, permit or other document, or for the exercise of
its lawful or judicial functions, may require the applicant to produce his identity card;
and, if the applicant when so required does not produce his identity card or other
proof to the satisfaction of the authority that he has been registered, the authority
may, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law for the time being in force,
defer consideration of the application until the applicant produces either his identity
card or other proof.
(2) During such times and within such areas as the Minister may by notice in
the Gazette appoint, any person authorized by the Principal Registrar in writing in
that behalf may require any person to whom this Act applies to produce his identity
card, or, if the person fails to produce his identity card when required so to do may
require him to produce it within such time, to such person and at such place as the
person making the requirement may think fit.
(3) Any person purporting to act under subsection (2) shall, if so requested by
any person from whom he has required the production of an identity card, produce,
for inspection by that person, the written authority under which he purports to be
acting.
(4) The Principal Registrar, the Deputy Principal Registrar or any of the persons
appointed under section 4(2) may, in the lawful exercise of his duties or functions
under this Act, require a person to whom this Act applies to produce for inspection
his identity card, and if the person fails to produce the identity card when required

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so to do, may require him to produce it within such time, to such person and at
such place as the person making the requirement may think fit.
[L.N. 604/1963, Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 9, Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 7.]

11. Entries in identity card

No person, other than a registration officer or other person authorized by the
Principal Registrar in writing in that behalf, shall make any entry in, alteration to or
erasure from an identity card.
12. Proof of exemption
Where any person claims that this Act does not apply to him, the burden of
proving that fact shall lie upon that person.
13. Evidential value of certificates
Any document purporting to be a certificate under the hand of the Principal
Registrar, the Deputy Registrar, or any of the officers appointed under section 4
(2) and certifying that any return required to be made to him under this Act or
any rules made thereunder has not been made, certifying a copy or extract of any
record kept by the Principal Registrar under this Act or certifying that any thumb or
finger impressions are the thumb or finger impressions of a person specified in the
certificate shall, in any proceedings for an offence under this Act, be prima facie
evidence of the facts stated therein.
[Act No. 13 of 1951, s. 6, Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 9, Act No. 2 of 2002, Sch.]

14. Offences and penalties

(1) Any person who—
(a) fails to apply to be registered in accordance with the provisions of this
Act; or
(b) in giving any information for the purposes of this Act, knowingly or
recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular;
or
(c) unlawfully deprives any person of an identity card issued to him under
this Act; or
(d) unlawfully makes an entry, alteration or erasure on any identity card
or on any registration document; or
(e) unlawfully issues an identity card or laminates or prints an identity
card or any of its component parts; or
(f) is in unlawful possession of or makes use of an identity card belonging
to any other person; or
(g) falsely states that he has not previously been registered or commits
any act or makes any false representation or omission with the object
of deceiving a registration officer; or
(h) is knowingly in possession of an identity card containing any false
entry, alteration or erasure; or
(i) having previously had issued to him an identity card under this Act,
obtains or attempts to obtain another identity card without disclosing
to the registration officer the fact of the previous issue and the loss,
mutilation or destruction of any identity card previously issued; or
(j) with intent to deceive—

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(i) makes a false representation that he or any other person is the

person to whom an identity card relates; or
(ii) except in such cases as may be prescribed permits any other
person to be in possession of an identity card issued to him; or
(iii) forges or mutilates an identity card, or makes or has in his
possession any document so closely resembling an identity
card as to be calculated to deceive; or
(k) being a person employed for the purposes of this Act, publishes or
communicates to any person otherwise than in the ordinary course of
his employment, any information acquired by him in the course of the
employment; or
(l) having, under subsection (2) of section 5, inspected the register
and made extracts therefrom, publishes or communicates to any
person, otherwise than in the ordinary course of his employment, any
information so acquired; or
(m) having possession of any information which to his knowledge
has been disclosed in contravention of this Act, publishes or
communicates that information to any other person; or
(n) without the written authority of the Principal Registrar, charges fees
for the delivery of lost and found identity cards,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand
shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months or to both:
Provided that nothing in Paragraphs (k), (l) and (m) shall apply to any publication
or communication of information made for the purpose of any proceedings before
a competent court.
(2) If any person contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or of any rules
made thereunder or with any lawful demand or requirement made under this Act
or under such rules, he shall be guilty of an offence and where no other penalty
is specifically provided liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand shillings or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months or to both, and in any case
where a person has been convicted of an offence involving failure to register under
this Act the court may, in addition to or in substitution for any sentence which it may
impose upon that person under this section, order him to register himself within
such period as it may specify.
(3) Offences under this Act or under any rules made thereunder shall be triable
by any subordinate court of the first or second class.
(4) A court shall have jurisdiction in any case brought before it under this Act
against any person being at the time within its area of jurisdiction, whether the
offence is alleged to have been committed within such area or not, or whether the
person accused of the offence has his usual place of abode or residence within
that area or not.
[Act No. 13 of 1951, s. 7, Act No. 11 of 1979, s. 10, Act No. 9
of 1987, s. 8, Act No. 21 of 1990, Sch., Act No. 19 of 2014, s. 24.]

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15. Offences cognizable to police

Offences under this Act shall be cognizable to the police.
16. Rules
The Minister may make rules—
(a) prescribing anything required to be prescribed under this Act;
(b) prescribing the form of identity card;
(ba) providing simple guidelines for the vetting of applicants prior to the
issuance or replacement of an identity card;
(c) providing for the insertion in, or removal from the register of the
particulars of any person, and for the procedure to be followed in
the issue, surrender or cancellation of any identity card, the issue of
duplicate identity card and the renewal of identity cards;
(d) providing for the procedure to be followed where any registered
person has changed his name or changes his place of residence or
postal address or leaves Kenya or dies;
(e) prescribing the fees, if any, which may be charged for a duplicate
identity card or for initial registration the renewal or alteration of an
identity card;
(f) generally for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.
[L.N.604/1963, Act No. 21 of 1990, Sch, Act No. 36 of 2016, s. 41.]

17. Validity of identity cards previously issued

Every identity card issued under this Act, whether or not expressed to be valid
up to any particular date, shall continue to be valid up to such time as the Minister
may by notice in the Gazette declare and upon such declaration every person with
an identity card so declared to be invalid shall within ninety days of the declaration
present himself before a registration officer to be registered in accordance with
section 6.
[Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 9, Act No. 2 of 2002, Sch.]

17A. Powers of arrest without warrant

Where a person is reasonably suspected of committing or having committed
an offence under this Act or any rules made thereunder, an authorized officer or a
police officer of or above the rank of inspector may demand his name and address
and, if he refuses or fails to give that information to the satisfaction of that officer or
if that officer has reasonable grounds for believing that unless arrested that person
may escape or cause an unreasonable delay, trouble or expenses in being made
answerable to justice, he may without warrant arrest him and hand him over to a
police officer or in the absence of a police officer take him to the nearest police
station without unnecessary delay.
[Act No. 21 of 1990, Sch.]

18. Prosecution of offences

A prosecution for an offence under this Act may, without prejudice to any other
power in that behalf and in particular subject to the general or special directions of
the Director of Public Prosecutions, be instituted and conducted by any registration
officer of or above the rank of registrar or fingerprint officer.
[Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 9, Act No. 12 of 2012, Sch.]

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18A. Power to cancel registration and revoke an identity card

(1) The Director shall cancel the registration and revoke the identity card of any
person issued under this Act if the card was obtained through—
(a) misrepresentation of material facts;
(b) concealment of material facts;
(c) fraudulently;
(d) forgery;
(e) multiple registration; or
(f) any other justifiable cause.
(2) Before cancellation of the registration and revocation of the identity card as
provided in sub section (1), the Director shall notify the card holder in writing of the
intention to cancel the registration and revoke the card unless the holder can show
cause within fifteen days why the cancellation should not be done.
(3) The cancellation of a registration and the revocation of a card under
subsection (2) shall not take effect until after the expiry of fifteen days from the
date of cancellation and revocation to allow the card holder to appeal to a court
of competent jurisdiction.
(4) Any person whose registration has been cancelled and identity card revoked
or whose citizenship has been otherwise revoked under an existing law shall be
under obligation to surrender the identity card to the registrar.
(5) The Director shall by notice in the Gazette publish the names and identity
card number of the person whose registration is cancelled and the identity cards
revoked.
[Act No. 19 of 2014, s. 25.]

SCHEDULE
[Act No. 9 of 1987, s. 10.]

OFFICERS TO BE APPOINTED BY PRINCIPAL REGISTRAR

First category
Senior Assistant Principal Registrar, assistant principal registrars, senior
registrars, registrars and other registration officers.
Second category
Chief Fingerprint Officer, deputy chief fingerprints officers, finger print officers
and senior fingerprint assistants.

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