Budget casts doubt on digital listing after State awards plan Sh600m

Uncertainty surrounds government plan to register all Kenyans afresh in a new national digital database after the exercise was allocated less than a tenth of its estimated cost in next fiscal year’s budget.

The Treasury has set aside Sh600 million for the project estimated to cost Sh8 billion and to be handled by the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology.

“Leveraging on information, communication and technology the following allocation has been set aside; Sh600 million for national digital register services,” reads documents submitted by the Treasury to MPs on Wednesday.

The Information ministry, which is spearheading the project together with Interior ministry, had said it expected to complete the digital registration by December upon receipt of cash from the exchequer in June.

“In order to address the prevailing security challenges, we intend to consolidate all current registers of persons into a single national register with accurate and relevant information,” deputy President William Ruto was quoted saying two weeks ago.

The process is expected to seal loopholes existing between birth registration, Personal Identification Number, Public Service Commission, National Social Security Fund and National Hospital Insurance Fund registers and voter registration, among others.

Under the project, digital identification details will be obtained on all Kenyans aged over 12 and stored in the database that can be retrieved by public institutions.

Kenyans will be required to provide details of their current identification cards, the date and area of birth, fingerprints and photos.

Kenya has been victim of terror attacks in the recent past which the government believes are being carried out by aliens sympathetic to Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabaab.

“What we are seeking to do is build a database that can give you full information about a person including where they live, what they own and what services they have access to,” said Information PS Joseph Tiampati.

Opposition parties have, however, questioned the government’s motive in executing the project claiming it was intended to lay ground for rigging of elections.

The digitisation of the registry is expected to form the foundation of issuance of the third generation identity cards which will come with enhanced security features while holding more personal data.

“We want to make sure that when the new cards are issued they are issued on a reliable database,” said Mr Tiambati.

Previous plans to introduce new identity cards have not been actualised despite being approved more than three years ago after the tendering process failed.