Teachers in Teso region have lauded Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki for allowing Ugandan women married in the country to be issued Kenyan Identification Cards (IDs).
Addressing the press in his Amagoro office on Wednesday, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Teso branch Executive Secretary Ekasiba Geoffrey said that issuance of the IDs will increase the number of the electorate in the area and in turn increase the amount of NGCDF monies released to develop schools.
“The issuance of IDs will also boost the region’s development,” he said.
Ekasiba thanked the Principal Administrative Secretary in the President’s Executive Office Arthur Osiya, Teso South MP Mary Emaase, and her Teso North counterpart Oku Kaunya for their crucial role in making the move a reality.
The KNUT boss said that Headteachers in schools bordering Uganda were facing challenges regarding the registration of learners into the NEMIS system since most pupils are from the neighbouring country with no birth certificates.
“The government should consider issuing birth certificates to these pupils, or it should fund schools based on enrolments and not NEMIS. Most of these children are Kenyans but did not manage to acquire birth certificates,” he said.
He added that the capitation they receive is less because of the unregistered children.
In August 2005, then Amagoro MP Sospeter Ojaamong criticized the government of the time for failing to issue IDs to the Ugandan women saying that they led miserable lives without jobs.
He said there were over 25,000 Ugandan women who had lived in Kenya with their husbands for over 30 years but were not catered for during national planning and resource allocation.
By Gilbert Ochieng’
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