Northeastern leaders now want residents to come out en masse to register for Huduma Namba.
Six governors of the northern frontier counties had initially expressed their reservations about the drive. They declared their position during a forum in Turkana.
Ali Roba (Mandera), Mahamud Ali (Marsbit), Ali Korane (Garissa), Mohammed Abdi (Wajir), John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot), and Josephat Nanok (Turkana) had said the exercise would not capture the actual population of the pastoralist communities.
They demanded that the government provide residents with identity cards and birth certificates before it rolled out the exercise. Many residents lacked the documents and would be left out, they said.
The county chiefs had also faulted the government for ignoring public participation, a requirement of the Constitution. They said many Kenyans had no idea what the Huduma Namba was all about.
Those from Northeastern have backed off. On Saturday, Roba and some of his staff enrolled in Mandera town. He appealed to the government to extend the deadline so details of every Kenyan is captured in the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS).
“The registration process is slow. Coupled with the nomadic lifestyle of our people, it calls for an extension. Otherwise, we'll be talking of an unsuccessful exercise by the end of the registration period,” Roba said.
Wajir Woman Representative Fatuma Gedi registered in Wajir town on Tuesday. She urged the clerks to move to remote areas to cover every mwanachi.
Gedi warned the clerks against ruining the drive. She expressed concern over complaints by some residents that the clerks have been asking for "registration fee", yet the listing should be free.
Separately, Governor Korane on Tuesday said he was not opposed to the exercise but merely wanted their grievances fixed.
“Our stand as leaders from Northeastern was and still is the same that the government should address the challenges if it wants the whole exercise to be successful,” he said in Garissa town.
“It is an open secret that most of our people don’t have ID cards and that has been one of the requirements for anybody above 18 years.”
Korane said they had been receiving calls from people expressing the frustrations they are subjected to when they seek to register.
The government says the Huduma Namba will be useful in national planning, service delivery, resource allocation and infrastructure development. The system, it says, will improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of services.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
