The government of Kenya has delisted 14,000 nationals who had been registered as refugees from the refugees database, paving way for them to acquire national identity cards. This follows several attempts to verify Kenyans whose nationality documentation applications had been rejected. The Kenyans, most of whom hail from regions with refugee camps were registered as refugees as they accessed refugee camps for food and other services. When the government of Kenya took over refugee registration, and integrated the refugee database with the citizenship one, Kenyans who had been registered as refugees were flagged and their registration denied. 

During a public meeting on 20th January, the Chief Administrative Secretary at the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government announced that among  these cases, 12,000 identity cards were ready and would be issued immediately. 1,500 cards were also being processed. Local advocacy groups welcomed the move, and also called for completion of pending cases, which they estimate number 40,000. Politicians also urged those who received their identity cards to urgently register as voters for the forthcoming general election.