Huduma Kenya retains Ksh1K ID replacement fee despite Ruto’s free service order

Huduma Kenya has maintained that Kenyans seeking to replace lost or damaged national identity cards (ID) will still be required to pay Ksh1,000, contradicting President William Ruto’s recent directive that the service should be offered free of charge.

The agency’s position has sparked confusion among citizens, many of whom had expected the cost to be scrapped following the president’s public announcement.

In response to a customer on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Huduma Kenya said the Head of State’s directive is yet to be implemented, urging Kenyans to pay the current fee for replacing an ID.

“Hello, kindly note it has not yet been implemented; the charge for replacement of ID is 1050 KSh. The 300 was for first-time applicants; that is free now,” the Facebook message read.

The agency further added, “Once published, we will share any updates regarding fees or policy changes on our official social media channels.”

The clarification by Huduma Kenya followed concerns from a section of Kenyans who demanded to know why the agency continued to impose charges on ID replacement despite Ruto’s promise.

Speaking on October 28, 2025, Ruto announced the government’s decision to suspend the ID replacement fees to ensure no Kenyan is left out in the ongoing voter registration ahead of the 2027 General Elections.

While insisting on the suspension of the Ksh1,000 ID replacement fees, Ruto urged Kenyans who have yet to pick up their identifiers to do so before the next elections.

“We will ensure no one is denied the opportunity to register as a voter because they lack an identification card,” the Head of State said.

Confusion over ID fees

“Previously, we charged Ksh300 for a new ID card, but currently there are no charges, and likewise, the replacement was Ksh1,000, but we have decided to suspend the amount.”

However, it now turns out that the government has yet to formally suspend the replacement fees as per the Head of State’s directive, a subject which has since sparked reactions among Kenyans.

This is not the first time Ruto has made such remarks on ID replacement. On October 4, 2025, he said that the government had waived the national identification card replacement fee to ensure no one is denied the opportunity to register as a voter.

The President explained that the fee was introduced to discourage abuse of the service by citizens who, after receiving IDs for free, would lose them and replace them regularly.