Lobby raises red flag on Huduma Namba design

Kenyans register for the Huduma Namba in Uasin Gishu County on April 24, 2019. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The High Court recently ordered the government to put in place the necessary legislative framework before implementing the project. It also ruled that collection of DNA and GPS data is intrusive and unconstitutional.

As the government plans to fully implement the Huduma Namba programme, a lobby group that took the matter to court has stepped up its bid to have the initiative halted a second time.

The Nubian Rights Forum wants to have the programme stopped over claims that the government intends to proceed without complying with court directions.

The High Court recently ordered the government to put in place the necessary legislative framework before implementing the project. It also ruled that collection of DNA and GPS data is intrusive and unconstitutional.

The Forum argues that there’s a risk of the rights of Kenyans and foreigners in the country being violated should the government go ahead without setting up the legislative framework. It has faulted the judges for failing to declare the design of the National Integrated Identity System (Niims) flawed.

According to the lobby, as per the current design, Niims is interlinked with other functional databases and would therefore comprise the rights of Kenyans and foreigners to privacy as well as equality.

In its filed documents, the lobby wants the state barred from compelling anyone to participate in the collection of personal information for Niims, or sharing of the data with any non-governmental agency.