The state says Kenyans have not received their Huduma Namba card because the data collected has not been processed following court orders.
Testifying in court on Wednesday, Interior PS Karanja Kibicho said the biometric data captured by the state during Huduma Number registration is sitting idle awaiting the court’s decision.
Justices Pauline Nyamweya, Mumbi Ngugi and Weldon Korir are expected to determine validity of the exercise.
Kibicho told the three-judge bench that 38 million Kenyans registered for Huduma Namba and the exercise is still ongoing at the chiefs’ offices.
The PS said the registration was fully funded by taxpayers’ money and so far close to Sh7 billion has been spent. By the end of the processing the state would have used Sh9.6 billion.
Kibicho defended the exercise, saying it is for the benefit of all Kenyans.
“We want to digitalize the population register to get benefits that are immense in terms of service provision,” he said.
Kibicho dismissed claims by the petitioners’ lawyer Martha Karua that the exercise was mandatory, saying even Karua had not registered and nothing had happened to her.
