Finding three: The committees established to vet persons before issuance of identity cards are not founded under statute, and they are discriminatory in nature and prone to abuse The committees established to vet persons in certain parts of the country before they are given IDs are not created by statute. A law should outline their mandate, scope, composition and procedures, including appropriate appeal mechanisms. On the composition of the vetting committees, the practice of requiring chiefs or their assistants to produce letters of recommendation could be sustained considering that they are the ones who are directly in touch with people on the ground. The Government though should regularize in law payment of village elders an allowance for sitting on the committees. 231 This position is consistent with a proposal made to the Kenyan Parliament in 2009. 232 Finding four: applicants lack adequate information on the procedures for issuance of ID cards and they experience bureaucratic delays The application process for identity cards for certain communities is slow. The Government must take steps to ensure that applications are not delayed. The registration process should be decentralized. It would be more cost and time effective if appropriate technical and administrative capacity is provided at the provincial level. Additionally, the Government should stipulate and communicate information on the time it would take to process applications. Non-state agencies working with persons at risk of statelessness could assist in this process by disseminating information. If there is any reason for delay in the application process, this should be transmitted expeditiously to an applicant. The Government has taken steps to create ‘awareness on the requirements’ for obtaining and replacing as well as altering details in an ID. 233 Even so, the effects of these measures are yet to be realized. Accordingly, the information transmission process must be stepped-up for persons at risk of statelessness. Stakeholders could buttress this process by undertaking strategies that will ensure that adequate and According to the NRB, allowances ‘are paid’ ‘during each sitting’. Letter from NRB, supra, note 78. However, those whom this study met stated that they were not remunerated for sitting on the committee. 232 See clause 3 of the 2009 Chiefs’ (Amendment) Bill (‘The remuneration and terms of service of a [village head] shall be from public funds as determined by the Minister in consultation with the Treasury’). 233 Letter from NRB, supra, note 78. 231 40 OUT OF THE SHADOWS TOWARDS ENSURING THE RIGHTS OF STATELESS PERSONS AND PERSONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN KENYA