Civil Society raises red flag over Sh7.2billion allocation for new digital identity project
The civil society organisations have raised the red flag over an attempt by the Kenya Kwanza administration to introduce a new civil registration programme akin to the Huduma Namba that is projected to gobble up a whopping Ksh7.2 Billion in the next budget.
The Unique Personal Identifiers (UPI), according to the group, bears an uncanny resemblance to the Huduma Namba project that was undertaken by former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government and which was successful and only waits to be gazetted to be fully implemented.
The envisaged project is said to have been awarded to a Pakistani firm by the name National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to undertake on behalf of Kenya.
Citing a whistleblower from the National Registration Bureau, the group says that the president William Ruto government plans to give all personal data of Kenyans to the foreign firm to assist in executing the planned rollout of the digital identity project, UPI.
The Huduma Namba project had cost the taxpayer Ksh6.5 Billion.
Operation Linda Ugatuzi says this is an economic crime shrouded in mystery through duplication of a new system that is similar to the existing Huduma Namba.
“The new government project to integrate data is a heist to steal money from Kenyans in the guise of a project that Huduma Namba already had done.” Fred Ogolla, Convener Operation Linda Ugatuzi claimed.
The group hailed the Huduma Namba card as efficient and that it fulfills and supersedes the international standards by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Organization of Standards, making it one of the most secure cards in the world.
They said that this fact is evidenced by features such as data encryption on the chip and protection via a Public Key Infrastructure (document signoff) and fingerprint details, adding that the card body is made of polycarbonate which has a life span of over ten years.
In 2005, the late former president Mwai Kibaki administration initiated the registration of persons in the country in order to improve on the progress made by the Integrated Population Registration Information System (IPRIS).
The government through Executive Order No. 1 of (2018) established the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) programme aimed at creating and managing a central master population database that was to be the authentic single source of truth on a person’s identity.
This would increase access to government services, dubbed ‘Huduma Kenya’.
“The Huduma project in terms of assets cost Kenyans Ksh6.5 Billion and about Ksh7 Billion in development costs, not counting the cost of staff wages, setting up 52 Huduma Centres throughout the country. The assets include servers, printers and software. Huduma Namba employs an average of 1,000 staff countrywide.” Said part of the statement.
Information, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo is on record announcing that the Ruto administration had abandoned the Huduma Namba project, a move that was followed by a team of delegates to Pakistan to negotiate on the new initiative.
Consequently, the Operation Linda Ugatuzi will tomorrow June 13 march to the High Court and Parliament to submit a petition to ask the two to stop the ‘heist’ and not pass the same in the budget.
“We will petition High Court to stop this heist and ask parliament to ensure this does not pass in the budget since the best way to steal public funds is by legislating it through Parliament and putting it in the budget. The cleverest way to rob a nation is by the pen, not the gun.” He added.
They added that failure to see action from the two independent bodies will force them to light a fire at Parliament Buildings to protest the move.
