For one to be fully equipped with all the paperwork to show that you are a Kenyan citizen, you will have to part with Kshs100, 000. And for the record, all documents these employees issue look genuine but on keen scrutiny you will find that there is a minor element that does not match with the original ones.
It is alleged that the officials involve themselves in this illegal activity as they are not paid well, so they are in need to take any opportunity that comes their way to make that extra cash. Unfortunately what they don’t know is that by with their actions, they put the country at risk.
For roughly Kshs100, 000 a non-Kenyan citizen can get a Kenyan passport, driving license, good conduct certificate, national ID card, school leaving certificate and certificate of birth. Indeed all the documents you need to survive in the country with no questions asked.
Individuals from Seychelles, DRC, Comoros and Somalia with dodgy pasts who wish to settle in a relaxed manner with faked official documents have been able to get them through the corrupt government officials.
It all starts with a normal call from a customer to a broker after a referral. Afterwards, first contact is initiated between the documents’ provider (being the government employee) and the one who wants to buy the documents and a meeting is set at a certain location.
No much detailed information is exchanged among the involved parties. Every document has its own price and the government official breaks down all the prices for each certificate. For instance a good conduct certificate and a passport goes for Kshs20, 000 each, a driving license goes for Kshs10, 000, a school leaving certificate goes for Kshs15,000, a national ID card goes for Kshs20, 000, and finally a birth certificate will cost you Kshs15,000.
The prices are fixed and no bargaining is tolerated as the client is made to realize that it is a dangerous business. A down payment of a certain amount agreed upon is made and the deal is done, no much questions asked. Then the client is advised not to make any phone calls and should be patient and wait for instructions on when and where to pick ‘his’ documents.
One will have to wait for just about 14 days for the documents to be ready. But for those who need the process to be quick and acquire the documents as soon as possible, then of course you will have to part with extra fee. All one needs to provide is a number of passports size photos and your ‘official’ names.
The documents are not delivered to a client all at once. The easiest ones to process i.e. birth certificate and leaving certificate are obtained in just a few days or even within a day. Then the documents are sent to the client as a parcel by use of the parcel services available in several bus stations.
Trust and patience are crucial in this illegal business. Several days after, a precise and brief phone call is made to the client with succinct instructions. This revolves around Times tower for the driving license, Kariokor’s chief’s camp for the National ID card and Nyayo House for the passport. At these joints, final payments are made as you are being handed the envelope containing the documents. And all is done, no questions asked as per the deal.
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