Fishermen in Lamu in Kenya are yet to be issued with smart identification cards three years after the government pledged to do so.
In July 2018, the national government launched the ‘Mvuvi card’ that officials described as a mart ID that would capture fishermen’s biometric details to aid in the war on terror.
Some 600 fishermen in Lamu were to be issued with the cards in a bid to secure the Kenyans seas from terrorism and other illegal businesses.
The cards contain all major information of the individual including the ID card number, BMU registration number and a special serial code.
Officials said the exercise was to take a month and was to be conducted in partnership with Search for Common Ground together with local community-based organisations. The aims was to register fishermen from all the 40 beach management units across Lamu county.
The card is installed with a microchip that enables security officers to monitor every individual and their movements while in the Indian Ocean.
The chip indicates the location of the holder making it easier for marine security officers to reach them promptly when necessary.
After years of fishermen decrying harassment by security officers at sea, the Mvuvi card was to bring to and end their misery.
Authorities would be able to distinguish genuine fishermen and set them aside from terror suspects and criminals.
However, not a single fisherman has received the card since it was launched.
Lamu Beach Management Units Network chairperson Mohamed Somo wondered why the government had not implemented the plan given the huge cooperation it got from fishermen.
“They took our photos and got us registered but but now it’s been three years without a word. We were to get the cards within a month of registration,” Somo said.
The fishermen want the government to break its silence on the matter and explain what happened to the programme.
“This thing would have saved us all the harassment we go through in the hands of security officers at sea. We want it done,” the fishermen’s spokesperson Abubakar Twalib said.
In May 2019 while on a tour of Lamu, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i announced the lifting of a more than eight-year-old night fishing ban in the region.
The CS also directed that all fishermen be electronically registered to keep at bay al Shabab militants masquerading as fishermen.
Radicalised youth have also been reported to crossing over into Somalia while masquerading as fishermen.
Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia attributed the delay to the issuance of the cards to ‘technical issues’.
“The project is still on but at the moment there are some technical issues we encountered and once we address them, we shall embark on the programme,” Macharia said.
The Star 2021