The Kenyan Government is out to streamline service provision to Citizens. Through the Interior and Government Coordination Ministry, the government is also out to ensure that Kenyan Citizens are well secured. To achieve this, the Government needs to have a rich bank of data about it’s citizens.
It is for this reason that the government has announced plans to produce digital Huduma Card.
These digital cards will replace the current IDs and come with a large collection of relevant data.
From March 15, Kenyans will most likely not need their current national ID cards. The new card will have all information the government may require. KRA certificate, NHIF and NSSF cards, and certificates of good conduct, among others, could become useless.
The project will cost about Sh6 million. Each person will have a unique number. The Interior ministry says this will bring order to the identification of persons. Current data are inconsistent.
Everyone age six and above will be registered.
In the past the government only issued identity cards to people aged 18 and above. It depended heavily on birth certificates.
“Kenyans have a load of documents to carry, a big collection of government cards that require similar data to register this information. We agreed to lump all this data into a single source only requiring a single card to register or identify a person,” Interior PS Karanja Kibicho yesterday said in a media briefing.
The government will require a digital photo, biodata, birth certificate details, information on parents and guardians, place of birth, county, subcounty, marital status, disability, level of education, employment status and ethnic group.
Registration will require people to declare if they are involved in agricultural activities and specify the size of the land they farm.
From then on, Kenyans will only need two documents when seeking government services — the Huduma card and a passport.
Kibicho said biometric data will only be captured by fingerprints.
The final preparations are in high gear for the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) programme, with the pilot exercise scheduled for Feb. 15, 2019 in 15 counties. Here’s a clarification on categories of the biometric data that will be required for registration. pic.twitter.com/0TjAlvdEP0
— Dr. Eng. Karanja Kibicho (@Karanjakibicho) January 31, 2019