But a deeper question now emerges: Are marginalised regions truly low in population, or have years of under-registration and exclusion from state records erased their presence from the national database?
For decades, millions of Kenyans have lived, worked, and even died without being fully recognised by the state because they lacked essential nationality documents such as birth certificates and national identity cards (IDs).
This invisible status has meant exclusion from essential services, employment, education opportunities, and even the right to vote. At its core, critics argue, the issue has been more about under-registration and structural barriers than genuine demographic scarcity.
Many young Kenyans in remote and marginalised areas spend their formative years without a birth certificate, often because births occur at home or in settings with limited access to civil registration services.
This lack of early documentation leads to a delayed or denied national identity card, which in turn makes voter registration impossible.
Without registration, residents cannot vote, and without votes, their regions are often excluded from political considerations and resource distribution. This has compounded social and economic exclusion, particularly among pastoralist and nomadic communities.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen recently highlighted the scale of the problem, noting that more than one million Kenyans aged over 30 still lack ID cards, effectively locking them out of basic rights and services.
“There are so many rights they cannot exercise and benefits they cannot get... because of lack of ID,” Murkomen said, noting the urgency of addressing historical gaps in registration.
An Infotrak survey conducted in late 2024 found that 41 per cent of eligible Kenyans lack national IDs, the most significant obstacle to voter registration.
This lack of documentation was cited as a key reason why millions of citizens, particularly youth and rural residents, are unable to register to vote, effectively excluding them from full participation in democracy.
In many remote parts of the country, such as border counties and Northern Kenya, including counties like Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Turkana, and in other marginalised areas across the country, residents historically faced strict requirements before being registered.
Before recent reforms, applicants were subjected to extra vetting, which often meant lengthy processes, repeated travel, and costly delays, discouraging many from applying for essential documents.
Recognising these structural inequities, the government introduced a series of reforms aimed at repairing Kenya’s citizenship pipeline, from birth registration to voting eligibility, ensuring that all citizens are formally recognised and able to participate fully in democratic and economic life.
In February 2025, President William Ruto signed a Presidential Proclamation ending decades-old requirements for extra vetting for ID registration in border and marginalised counties.
“If it’s about vetting, let all children of Kenya be vetted equally without any discrimination,” Ruto declared at the launch in Wajir, calling the old system “unjust and disenfranchising.”
The reforms also include eliminating application and authentication fees for key documents such as birth certificates and ID cards to remove financial barriers that have long hindered families, particularly in rural and low-income areas.
This was followed up with the removal of fees for first-time ID applicants and the launch of the mobile ID registration drive, designed to reach persons in remote areas who previously struggled to visit National Registration Bureau (NRB) offices.
CS Murkomen said the exercise is targeting around one million youth nationwide, including those in traditionally disadvantaged areas, and aims to cut processing times to no more than 10 days.
Kenya’s Constitution enshrines the right to identification and equality before the law. Without these documents, individuals lose access to a range of opportunities:
-Education (secondary and higher education registration)
-Employment and formal sector job markets
-Access to social services and mobile money platforms
-Access to Development Programmes such as bursaries and government loans
-Eligibility for voting and political participation
Officials now argue that the long-standing discrimination embedded in extra vetting distorted the demographic picture of regions such as the North and parts of the Coast, erroneously branding them as “low voter zones” while actual numbers were suppressed by registration barriers.
Despite policy changes, voter registration remains uneven. According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), around 90,020 new voters were registered by October 31, 2025, a figure far below the national target of 6.3 million new voters ahead of 2027.
Urban and central counties such as Nairobi and Kiambu led the numbers, while sparsely populated and previously disadvantaged areas lag behind. However, political experts expect this to change once registration and issuance of ID cards improve in marginalised areas.
Nevertheless, some positive trends are emerging. In Northeastern counties Garissa, Wajir and Mandera, Eldas MP Adan Keynan noted that registration numbers are now surpassing earlier turnout, suggesting that inclusive registration strategies are beginning to bear fruit.
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