Huduma Number: Proposed Huduma Bill, 2019.
The Huduma card shall serve as the official government-issued document for identification and conduct of transactions.
This means that you will be required to have Huduma Namba to register as a voter, access universal healthcare, passport, apply for a driving license, register a mobile phone number, pay taxes, transact in the financial markets and open a bank account.
Currently, the national Identity Card serves as the official identification mode upon which all these services are predicated. The proposal by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i will, however, require the approval of the Cabinet before being tabled in Parliament.
The registration of Huduma Namba shall be through the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) that will be a primary database for both foundational and functional data, from which every other database with personal data of residents in Kenya will be built. The databases include those of voters, taxes, and social services.
Proposed Huduma Bill, 2019.
“Every resident individual shall have a mandatory obligation to present Huduma Namba in order to be issued with a passport, apply for a driving license, register a mobile phone number, register as a voter, pay taxes, transact in the financial market, open a bank account, register a company or public benefit organization, transfer or make any dealings in land, register for power connection, access universal healthcare services, register a marriage…” reads part of the bill.
The list is long and unquestionably will make it near impossible to perform any activity that requires correspondence with a government office or private organizations.
Huduma Namba is a unique and permanent personal identification number assigned to every resident individual at birth or upon enrolment under the Act. It, however, says that no government agency shall collect foundational data from an individual who has enrolled under this Act.
“For avoidance of doubt, the NIIMS is a protected computer system within the meaning of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act,” it says. Penalties for offences relating to a protected computer system is a Sh5 million or five years in jail or both.
In March this year, the High Court ruled that Huduma Namba registration should be voluntary and no one should be denied services. The government from February to May this year, undertook a voluntary Huduma Namba registration netting about 35 million Kenyans.
The registration of a company or a public benefit organisation, transfer or any dealings in land, electricity connection, access to the government housing scheme, marriage, public education, social protection services, register or a motor vehicle transfer or any other specified public service will also require the card.
Do you have any news or article you would like us to publish? Kindly reach us via outreach@t4d.co.ke or howtodoafrica@gmail.com.
