NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 15 – The government will challenge the invalidation of Huduma Namba roll out by the High Court on Thursday.
The government, through Attorney General Kihara Kariuki, on Friday filed a notice of appeal against the judgement that declared the process illegal citing the State’s failure to conduct a data protection impact assessment before its roll out.
The ruling which elicited mixed reactions from a section of Kenyans and leaders was issued on Thursday by Justice Jairus Ngaah.
“An order is hereby issued to bring into this honorable court to quash the government decision of November 18 2020 to roll out Huduma cards for being unlawful,” he said.
“Order of mandamus is hereby issued compelling the government to conduct a data protection impact assessment in accordance with section 31 of the Data Protection Act before processing of data and rolling out the Huduma cards,” Judge Ngaah further declared.
Huduma Namba, also referred to as the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), was introduced in 2019 and was billed as the single source of personal identification for Kenyans and persons resident in Kenya.
Speaking at the Kenya School of Adventure and Leadership (KESAL) during a meeting with Assistant County Commissioners on Friday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the decision to appeal is informed by the conviction the High Court decision is based on misinterpretation of the “essence and the practical intentions of Huduma Card.”
Matiang’i said that that Huduma Namba was integral to the government’s agenda to digitize its service delivery, adding that the state was aware of vested interests sponsoring litigation against it.
“It is unthinkable how we are going to work if we cannot have an integrated identity management ecosystem. Some of the people who are opposed to this are part of a cartel that has been feeding off the inconveniences of the disintegrated system,” he said.
The Interior CS likened the opposition to Huduma Namba with the resistance to digital migration of the television network, which he implemented during his tenure as ICT Cabinet Secretary, adding that the government would go all the way to the Supreme Court to defend the system if necessary.
“We can’t be the only country where you need a bag to carry your identity documents. We will go all the way up to the Supreme Court if that is what it takes to defend what is right for our country.”
Matiang’i added that the digitization of identification documents into a master Identification Document system is a global trend adding that Kenya is no exception.
Katiba Institute filed a petition in November 2020 seeking to bar the government from launching the Huduma cards without carrying out the data protection impact assessment.
The court directed the government to carry out impact assessment before rolling out the program.
Government Spokesperson Col. (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna said Wednesday that 6.5 million Huduma cards had been collected out of 11.2 million cards processed.
Oguna called on Kenyans to collect their cards from various centers adding that plans was underway to embark on Phase II of Huduma Namba registration.
