By Dickens Wasonga.

All manner of brokers have pitched camp at the civil registration offices in Kisumu east district and they are conning unsuspecting members of the public seeking to obtain birth and death certificates with impunity never witnessed before.

Like the official government staff attached to the department, the brokers report to work at the offices as early as 8.00am and remain busy both inside, at the corridors and outside the offices until 5pm – the official time government offices close.

They wake up the following day to do what they have now perfected – conning people with impunity.

And they have been at it actively since March this year when the minister for immigration Gerald Otieno Kajwan’g issued a directive requiring all children joining class one and KCPE candidates to have birth certificates.

They take strategic positions once at work. One of them, a tall dark middle aged man identified by our sources at the office as Pastor is always at hand to receive new applicants outside the offices.

During our under – cover investigations, we found him armed,as always with forms which ordinarily one would expect to get only from the government’s own staff and not a total stranger posing as a civil servant .

The others pose as clients waiting to be served while in real sense are keenly watching out for unsuspecting members of the public who wish to be ”assisted”.

Strangely the officers for hire have created confidence amongst those seeking services there to the extent that they even keep in their custody, vital documents such as original national ID cards from those who have been promised assistance.

When we visited the offices this team was shocked to see the ”officers” carry government documents like forms B3 and B4 which they were dishing out to those making applications to be issued either with the death certificates or certificate of birth.

We learned that several people who landed into the hands of these crooks lost ID cards and thousands of shillings at the same time besides wasting several months waiting for processing of documents these conmen had no ability to give them.

The crooks confidently handle clients as though they have been hired by the government to help with the exercise and to a casual observer,nothing seems to go wrong with what they offer.

Things appeared very rosy for them until last week when several people who previously dealt with them began to smell they could be dealing with conmen operating side by side by a few dishonest staff from the department who are also alleged get their cut from the brokers deals.

On Wednesday last week while waiting to be served, applicants were treated to a rare drama by an irate woman whose son had been tricked by the same conmen posing as civil registration officers.

The woman in her early Fifties had accompanied her son to the offices in March this year to help him get a birth certificate. They then began the long and painful wait. Little did they know that they had been served by brokers posing as members of staff.

When she realised she had been duped she stormed the offices and caused a serious scene.

Officially, those who seek late registration are required to pay Ksh 170 and those who do so as soon as a child is born pay Shs.50 only and a receipt must be issued.

According to officers working in the office who talked to this writer but asked not to be identified, the process should ideally take up to or about two to three weeks before one is issued a birth certificate, that is if it is for late registration.

However the young man’s case was handled strangely. When they visited the office for the first time in March this year ,the young man armed with his national ID card allegedly presented his case to the district registrar who listened and directed him and the mother to another female officer.

They claimed that It was this female officer who allegedly introduced them to one of the brokers identified only as Timothy.She allegedly described the guy as an efficient fellow who would ensure their case was handled fast and to their satisfaction.

Soon the ”officer cum broker” began making several demands in the name of trying to help because the case of the young man who is also a Form 5 student in Uganda was a complicated one.

According to the student they were forced to part with shs 3000 after they failed to raise shs 5000 that the broker had earlier demanded to speed up the process of issuing the certificate.

”But we did not get a receipt for the payment and we did not demand either to be offered one on the simple understanding that we were being assisted.moreover I desperately needed the document to help me apply for a pass port” said the boy during the interview.

After waiting for so long,the young man’s mother could not hold on any longer and on Wednesday she decided enough was enough and no more promises would stop her from telling the officers she was fed up and she caused a scene that shocked everyone present. Business at the busy office came to a near stand still although briefly.

”So many people have suffered quietly in this office but I have had enough of this frustration. Now it is time it is made public. Am ready to even ring the minister in charge of this department.Hon Kajwan’g if that will help push things here.” She shouted in front of the district officer in charge.

Independent investigations revealed that a Mr. Timothy who made away with the 3000 shillings from the mother and her desperate son has since gone underground after word went round that he was being sought over his activities at the office..

Staff from the department whom we talked to confirmed that the man had been working there as a volunteer for sometime now.

”We had a small number of staff which could not handle the influx especially when the program began although it is not clear to us how these guys got the green light to work here. it is however true that they have been here for sometime now. some of them have even learnt how to clean the registers ” one officer observed.

He alleged that when the directive was made and it was apparent that staff at the station was overwhelmed, Nairobi asked their boss to look for additional staff from the department of the national registration bureau which also falls within the ministry but it was not clear whether he made any attempt to get them.

We caught up with one of the brokers named Edwin who categorically stated he has also worked at the offices for two months now.

Edwin who had no slightest idea that our team had a video camera and that our conversation with him was was being recorded even declared himself a government staff attached at the department.

He later changed his story after this writer challenged him to show him his Job card or any document to prove he was indeed a staff there.

He claimed that himself and Timothy who disappeared after obtaining thousands of shillings from other unsuspecting clients were just helping with the work load but insisted they were allowed to do so by people who work there.

It was however clear that the minister’s directive opened up a fertile ground for con artists to swindle many Kenyans here who in their desperate efforts to comply landed into the wrong hands.

Efforts to get audience with the area district civil registrar of births and deaths were futile. When he was reached on his mobile, he said he was still busy and promised to get in touch with this writer. He did not and subsequent attempts to get his comments failed when now his cell phone was switched off.

ENDS.