Huduma Namba: What you need to be registered

As the Huduma Namba registration drive enters its sixth day today, do you really know the salient details about the exercise and what you need to get listed?

For adults, it's mandatory to have your physical ID and know the numbers of the other documents.

If an adult doesn't have the original ID, they can use their passport.

For those under 18, it's mandatory to have the birth certificate for registration to take place.

It's also important to have the KRA PIN.

For the elderly who may not have it, every station has a help desk to help them sign up.

A spot check by the Star at the DO’s office in Westlands found the process ongoing with members of the public slowly but consistently trickling in. 

Registration clerks told the Star that the physical documents, not just the numbers and details are important because “they have to be pictured and uploaded into the system.”

The clerks, who declined to be named, however, decried the slow pace of the process blaming it on the NIIMS kits which they say hang frequently. The exercise is done in all administrative offices such as County Commissioner’s and their deputies, chiefs, sub-chiefs offices countrywide.

Assistant chiefs have distributed the clerks in strategic market centres in their areas. Once at the centre, one is given the registration form and a cue number. 

However, Interior CS said a new website for the process has been launched to enable Kenyans to download the registration form so that they fill at convenience and take to the registration centres. 

“To simplify & expedite the registration process, please download the form from https://www.hudumanamba.go.ke/ , fill it in at your convenience, and then present it to our registration assistants,” he said. 

Section two of the registration document caters for those with multiple marital partners, allowing up to five known or not yet known spouses to be registered, a move that is likely to be well received among polygamous societies.

Students will also have to produce their NEMIS registration numbers when getting listed. The state wants to consolidate this into a single number with a digital card produced to replace all of them. Interior PS Karanja Kibicho, however, cautions that getting the card will not be that fast, so don’t discard your documents yet.

Non-citizens will as well be registered, have to produce their passports. However, only foreigners with the status of workers, students, stateless and asylum seekers will be required to register. Short term visitors and tourists are not expected to acquire a Huduma Namba.

At least 31,500 biometric kits have been procured to conduct the listing. Kibicho said the kits will be left with the chiefs to continue the registration even after the 45 days. All persons from the age of six are required to be listed. 

But there are concerns on the rationale of the state spending Sh5.7 billion in the exercise yet the information it needs were generated by its departments. Consolidating the data it already has could have cost the tax payers even less, experts opine. The perception of duplication has led to swirling conspiracy theories with critics claiming the project was initiated to benefit “hidden personal interests.”

David Ndii, a political strategist and economics scholar, alleges that the registration “is part of an elaborate scheme to expend tax payers resources to enrich individuals.”

Civil society organisations sought the High Court’s intervention to block the exercise but only succeeded marginally, with the court ordering that while the drive continues, it is not mandatory for citizens to register.

The government and the opposition have closed rank on the registration drive, insisting it is mandatory. President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the exercise on Monday. Deputy President was scheduled to preside over the launch in Kakamega but chose to have sports CS Amina Mohammed represent him.