Four people were arrested yesterday in Kisii for deceiving parents that they were in a position to help them to process birth certificates.
The principal registrar of persons Mathews Khayota said the four were seized following complaints from parents who visited his office to obtain the papers only to relealise that the four were not employees.
He noted that the parents had been losing thousands of shillings to the cartel after they gave them between Sh200 and Sh500 as processing fee but to their surprise they failed to receive the papers as promised by the con men. “They were caught after plainclothes police pretended that they were also parents applying for the papers,” the registrar said.
Khayota said that the con men were a big network and had been deceiving parents that they worked at the registration office and were in position to expedite the processing of the documents.
He said that the worst affected included those who either qualify for green cards to USA or those using the papers to get medical cover.
The registrar noted that the cartels positioned themselves at strategic points where they pretended to assist the parents but ended up disappearing with the money.
Khayota advised parents to visit his office to be served by authorised employees. “I am reminding parents that they are required to pay Sh150 for processing of the certificates.”
His office lacked staff to clear the backlog and printing of papers. He said more than 100,000 birth papers were yet to be processed and printed. Most unprocessed documents are for this year’s KCPE and KCSE candidates.“We are working hard to process certificates for those who sat this year’s KCPE examination because they will be required to produce than to various schools where they will be admitted,” said Khayota.