It Won't Be A Must To Get Huduma Namba- CS Owalo
The identity card was initially termed Huduma Namba and was meant to replace the existing national identity cards, which the government believes are outdated.
Marvin Chege 
ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo on Monday, July 31 announced that Kenyans will no longer be mandated to acquire the digital identity card, a reverse from the directive issued by the previous government.
The identity card was initially termed Huduma Namba and was meant to replace the existing national identity cards, which the government believes are outdated.
However, Owalo argued that it is not the role of the government to force people to register for the card, instead the decision should rest on the Kenyans to decide whether they want the cards or not, in a move to encourage compliance.
ICT CS Eliud Owalo speaking during a consultative meeting with the leadership and senior managers of the Kenya News Agency (KNA) on July 3, 2023. /FACEBOOK.ELIUD OWALO
“We will not force any Kenyan to take a digital identity. The honours will be in you to decide whether you want to consume govt services through digital identity based on your biodata or you want to physically visit govt offices,” Owalo noted.
"We need virtual means through which the government can confirm you are who you claim to be. It will be upon you now to decide whether you want to take it."
Owalo further noted that it will be up to Kenyans to decide on whether they want to be identified digitally or stick with the old system.
The government had initially planned to phase out the current generation of identity cards for a new one which would consolidate all the government-issued documents including birth certificates, NHIF numbers, and NSSF numbers among others.
“The government is deliberating the implementation of a civil registration and vital statistics system that meets the imperatives of a new digital era,” Owalo stated.
A section of Kenyans had expressed their reservations with the plan, believing that the new cards could be issued with current numbers without the need of overhauling the whole system.
On Friday, June 30, President William Ruto revisited the Huduma Namba project which stalled under former President Uhuru Kenyatta, lamenting that it cost the previous regime Ksh15 billion.
“In the next 90 days, we must have a digital ID. That digital id has been traumatic for Kenya. We are all aware that there was another phantom project called huduma namba, that huduma namba was a complete fraud because we lost almost Ksh 15 billion and got very little out of it,” said Ruto during the unveiling of digital government services at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.
Accordingly, Ruto urged government officials to show in three months that a digital ID project can work without wasting Ksh15 billion from public coffers, calling out those responsible for the failure of Huduma Namba.
“We must demonstrate in the next 90 days that it is possible for us to have a digital id without spending Ksh15 billion and without defrauding the people of Kenya. And those who did that should be ashamed of themselves," he went on.
Ruto on Thursday, January 27 ordered CS Owalo to oversee the creation of a digital identity (ID) similar to the Huduma Namba, by the end of this year.
