Nov 18, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — On Wednesday, Kenyan government announced that it will phase out current national identity in favour of Huduma number cards by December 2021.
The Information and Communications Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru, in an interview Wednesday after launching issuance of the cards in Machakos town that the ministry is awaiting on some legal issues to be solved but as soon as the Huduma bill is enacted, the current identity cards will no longer be in use.
“The national ID, going forward, is going to be the Huduma card… we have legal issues but once the Huduma Bill is enacted by Parliament the current IDs will be collapsed to the Huduma card,” said the Information and Communications Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i also said that the transition from national identity cards to Huduma Namba cards will take 12 months.
He added that Kenyans as well as foreign residents who registered for the Huduma number start receiving text messages informing them on where to pick their cards in two weeks’ time, marking the beginning of the end for the current national identity cards.
The Huduma smart card, whose roll out has been dogged by controversies, will in the next 12 months become the single, digital identifier for all Kenyan citizens and resident foreigners when seeking services from public offices.
The deputy president and his allies had claimed that the Huduma number project plot by the government to manipulate data in the 2022 general elections using Huduma Number.
Ruto allies further faulted the second phase registration saying the government tasked the registration to an expatriate adding that a lot of public money was used in what became the first phase of Huduma number registration.
“A lot of money was used in the first phase of Huduma Namba registration. We cannot be losing money to projects that are of no value to the common man,” Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa stated.
Uhuru disregarded their claim saying that the Huduma Namba is an initiative that will ease the way Kenyans get government services.
