President William Ruto has ordered ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo to ensure Kenyans have a digital ID like Huduma Namba by the end year.
Speaking on Friday, January 27 during the Data Protection Conference in Nairobi, Ruto ordered government agencies to actualize Huduma Numba within the next twelve months.
Ruto also asked CS Owalo to put in place systems and structures that will ensure that Huduma Namba project is a success.
“The Huduma-thing that never was must be a success. It’s not the work of the government to issue identification numbers, it is the work of the government to identify the citizens,” Ruto said.
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Huduma Namba was initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta regime in a move aimed at harmonizing government services.
However, Uhuru’s flagship project seemed to have stalled just months before the 2022 General Election.
The Huduma Namba project began with the consolidation of data from primary population registration agencies to the national data management departments in the government.
Through Executive Order No. 1 (2018), former President Uhuru Kenyatta established the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) program whose mandate is to manage Kenyans’ identification structures.
“The purpose of this initiative is to create and manage a central master population database which will be the ‘single source of truth’ on a person’s identity,” the Ministry of ICT explained on its website.
NIIMS database is configured to run information on all Kenyan citizens and foreign nationals residing in Kenya and to serve as a reference point for ease of service delivery to the people of Kenya.
The initial attempt to consolidate Kenyans’ data was conducted in 2005 when the government initiated the registration of persons in the country.