The government seeks to replace the national census conducted every ten years with a UPI-based national registration database system.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok says the Unique Personal Identifier will be adopted as a primary identification number in plans by President William Ruto’s administration to roll out a digital identity system.
UPI will see citizens assigned a unique number which will double up as birth certificate number at birth and remain a reference for all other government documents including death certificates.
It will also serve as a National ID number upon attaining the age of 18 years, National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the Driving License Number.
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Speaking to regional and county civil registrars during the opening of a training workshop on the roll out of UPIs, Bitok said the new system will provide precise data for planning.
“We are going UPI because in many countries that are advanced, there is no a ten-year census where people are counted at night,” he said.
“UPI will help to fill the revenue leakages and we will be able to tighten some of the loose ends in our revenue stream as civil registration,” he said.
“With our records in UPI, then we are able to capture all the monies, all the revenues that are supposed to be paid to government and this UPI is definitely beneficial.”
Bitok said the system will support the realization of the Kenya Kwanza administration’s objective of having 95 per cent of government services digitized.
The PS said the program will be rolled out on March 1.