The government plans to produce a digital Huduma card, replacing current IDs and capturing a wealth of detail.
From March 15, Kenyans will most likely not need their current national ID cards. The new card will have all information the government may require. KRA certificate, NHIF and NSSF cards, and certificates of good conduct, among others, could become useless.
The project will cost about Sh6 million. Each person will have a unique number. The Interior ministry says this will bring order to
the identification of persons. Current data are inconsistent.
Everyone age six and above will be registered.
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In the past the government only issued identity cards to people aged 18 and above. It depended heavily on birth certificates.
“Kenyans have a load of documents to carry, a big collection of government cards that require similar data to register this information. We agreed to lump all this data into a single source only requiring a single card to register or identify a person,” Interior PS Karanja Kibicho yesterday said in a media briefing.
The government will require a digital photo, biodata, birth certificate details, information on parents and guardians, place of birth, county, subcounty, marital status, disability, level of education, employment status and ethnic group.
Registration will require people to declare if they are involved in agricultural activities and specify the size of the land they farm.
From then on, Kenyans will only need two documents when seeking government services — the Huduma card and a passport.
Kibicho said biometric data will only be captured by fingerprints.
“We needed an amendment under the Registration of Persons Act to accommodate biometric capture of details,” he said.
About 31,500 biometric kits have been procured. Before the countrywide rollout of the project next month, the ministry will run a pilot phase this month. It will involve 15 counties and 40 subcounties.
“Registration will be done by registration officers in the subchief’s office or can be done manually before one goes for fingerprint scanning. The pilot will run for two weeks,” Kibicho said.
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