Plans to Introduce Digital ID Cards is just another scam in the making- MP Basil Ngui

The MP, who participated in a panel discussion on Citizen TV's Day Break on Monday, said there was no difference between the type of unique digital identifiers that the government intends to implement and the Huduma Namba advocated by the previous regime.

'' So much money has been wasted... If you look at the Huduma namba and what is being proposed, it is one and the same thing," the MP said

"Why can't we use our IDs as Unique identifiers? We don't need to re-invent the wheel and come up with fancy words like digital identifier, according to me this is just another scam in waiting ... someone got a deal somewhere and wants to make sone money."

According to the legislator, Kenya does not need to reinvent the wheel in terms of unique digital identifiers, especially since other mechanisms for identifying citizens already exist.

Instead of introducing a new identifier, the MP argued that the government should expand the existing e-citizen platform so that citizens can track the progress of service delivery and provide input to improve delivery.

"Bringing things such as unique identifiers does not help us and is in fact a waste of public resources," he added. 

"They have introduced taxes now to tame the cost of living, so why do we need to spend millions of dollars to something that will not add us any value?

In late May, during the opening of the seventh ID4Africa Augmented General Meeting in Nairobi, Ruto stated that this is part of the government's plan to digitize its civil registration and vital statistics system.

“The government is deliberating the implementation of a civil registration and vital statistics system that meets the imperatives of a new digital era. The new system must be able to assign unique personal identification numbers at birth to all persons born in Kenya,” said the president.

According to the president, the government also wants a passenger information system to monitor movement in and out of the country.

“… upgrade the current national identity card into a national digital identity management system and adopt the most sophisticated advanced passenger information solution to address entry and exit at our borders and ports,” Ruto said.

The president invited input from identity management practitioners across the continent towards possible innovations to achieve integrity and efficiency in the sector.

“Data privacy for registered persons is an essential component of our public mandate, and we must take every possible measure to safeguard it at all times,” Ruto added.

“We cannot postpone or downgrade our identity management endeavours. Our development partners, therefore, have an opportunity to explore possible areas of collaboration with our State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services to support our identity management programmes.”

The government in March launched the Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) to capture and register all newborn babies at birth and record deaths in the country.

Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services Julius Bittok in February said the UPI will be uploaded in the eCitizen portal and will give all the newborns a unique number to be used in schools and colleges.

It would also be used as an identification card, PIN number, National Health Insurance Fund, and Kenya Revenue Authority, the PS said, adding that the government will do away with the census exercise as the government will have real-time data on the country’s population.