Why we increased the birth and death fee to Sh200

PS Julius Bitok of the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services has revealed why the department proposed to increase the rate of issuance of birth and death certificates from Sh50 to Sh200.

In March, the Interior Department revised the amounts for various services offered by the state Department of Immigration and Citizen Services.

PS Bitok said the rate of inflation in the country had led to an increase in the amount of 150 shillings.

He said the rates of issuance of birth and death certificates were last revised 36 years ago, adding that times have changed.

“The amount that affects the majority of people is 200. We went from Sh50 to Sh200, but the last time that was done was 36 years ago. We proposed to increase to Sh200 due to cost of materials, inflation and changing times because 35 years is a long time,” Bitok said.

The PS added that the amount applies to all Kenyans seeking birth and death certificates.

He spoke on Wednesday during the monthly PS meeting in Bomas, Kenya.

In a note dated February 29, 2024, the Ministry of Interior indicated that the review follows the completion of the public participation process, which took place from November 14 to December 5, 2023.

The new fees and levies were revised on November 14, 2023, by notice in Official Gazette No. 24.

Late registration of birth certificate increased from 150 shillings to 500 shillings, same as late registration of death.

The ministry also increased the birth re-registration fee from 90 shillings to 1,000 shillings and the birth registration fee at foreign missions was increased from $50 (7,225 shillings) to $150 (21,675 shillings).

The same amount applied to the registration of deaths in Kenya’s foreign missions.

The fee for amending birth and death certificates was increased from 130 shillings to 1,000 shillings, while the fee for a certificate for a person presumed dead was increased from 150 shillings to 1,500 shillings.

Meanwhile, the ministry introduced new fees for verification of certificates for government agencies and fixed it at Sh500, while it fixed fees for acquisition of vital statistics reports for private agencies at 2,000 shillings.

The state, however, set the fee for accessing vital statistics reports at Sh1,000.

A new fee of $100 (Sh14,450) has also been introduced for certificate verification of foreign private agencies, while the fee for the same service for Kenyan private agencies has been set at $1,000 (Sh144,500) .