Economy

30 million Huduma Namba forms approved for fast registration

namba

Huduma Namba registration in Nyeri town on April 4, 2019. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NMG

Kenyans registering for the ‘Huduma Namba’ have been spared printing costs after the government opted to provide 30 million forms by Sunday for the service number.

Interior principal secretary Karanja Kibicho on Thursday said that most citizens have not been filling in the forms online and printing them leading to delays in the National Integrated Identification Management System (NIIMS) registration that started on Monday.

The hitch has occasioned delays in the Sh5.7 billion project across the country, notably in the four coastal counties of Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu where the registration is yet to start.

“We have resolved to print an extra 30 million forms that will be distributed to all registration centres by Sunday,” Mr Kibicho said yesterday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the exercise on Monday as the government seeks to establish and maintain a master digital national population register identifying everybody resident in Kenya.

By midday on Thursday, 150,000 people had been registered since the launch.

Biometric

NIIMS will save biometric (fingerprints and facials), demographic and physical details of Kenyans and registered foreigners and will also help the government to verify the actual number of civil servants.

The process has, however, been marked by confusion over allegations that it is mandatory and Kenyans who will not have been registered by the end of 45 days will be denied government services.

“There is no Kenyan being forced to register, the Huduma Namba is about service but Kenyans who decide they do not want the convenience, it is their choice,” Mr Kibicho added.

Human rights lobbyists went to court seeking a suspension of the process amid claims of forcible registration and security of the data captured.

The High Court on Monday declined the suspension request but barred the government from sharing the data with other organisations or locking out un-registered Kenyans from services.