The History Of Uhuru’s Huduma Number Card
At the cost of KES 10B, the Uhuru Kenyatta Government launched the Huduma Namba project. The intention of Huduma Namba was good, because it was trying to ensure that we have a digital identity that could facilitate virtual transactions between the government and the public, as far as the provision of services is concerned. Download IYEF Social app on Google playstore and enjoy more photos and news updates.
Having been launched in 2018, and spending a lot of the taxpayer money, with the government borrowing commercial loans to fund most of these projects then, the Huduma Namba program failed to kick off after the High Court declared its rollout illegal on grounds of being in conflict with the Data Protection Act, 2019.
The project by former President Uhuru Kenyatta did not see the light of day! Many Kenyans were never issued with the cards, Uhuru Government failed to conduct data impact assessment before rolling out the cards, contravening the Constitution in the process.
The roll-out of the cards lacked the guarantee against theft or misuse of Kenyans’ personal information.
The then Government failed to subject the fresh registration of Kenyans to data protection impact assessment (DPIA), a requirement under the law. The assessment is aimed at identifying risks that could arise due to a breach of privacy, loss of data and unlawful use of information like names, date of birth, postcode and residences.
