Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki has pointed an accusing finger at a High Court judge over biasness against the government on Huduma Namba roll out.
Kihara cited a ruling made by Justice Jairus Ngaah that barred the State from rolling out the Huduma Namba cards unless they conduct a data protection assessment.
“The learned judge of the superior court admits to bias against the State and the applicants in the exercise of his discretion contrary to the principles of equity before the law,” stated Justice Kihara.
The AG further questioned why Justice Ngaah went ahead to issue the order that barred the rolling out of Huduma Namba while the Senate filed a pending appeal case against the National Assembly on the same.
“The learned judge misdirected himself in law by finding that there was no other scale upon which to weigh the actions of the State to collect and process personal data except that provided by the Data Protection Act,” he continued.
According to the ruling by Justice Ngaah, the High Court had established that the government had violated the law by rolling out the Huduma Namba cards without conducting a data protection impact assessment.
This was against data protection law, thus making the cards invalid.
The Huduma Namba was rolled out in 2020. The first recipients of the new cards were President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.
