Matiang'i to Ruto: Huduma Namba is not for rigging elections

The government has denied claims by Deputy President William Ruto’s allies of a plot to rig the 2022 General Election using the Huduma Namba.

Speaking at a Maasai cultural event presided over by the DP on Thursday, about 30 Tangatanga MPs said they no longer trusted the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), popularly known as Huduma Namba.

They alleged it is being managed by a foreign firm retained through the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to manipulate the poll outcome to Dr Ruto’s disadvantage.

“We gather they have brought in foreigners to help them steal our money and rig the elections,” Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika claimed.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa added, “If it is about public procurement, you have no business taking the procurement to the National Intelligence Service. If it is about public registration, take it through the legal process of procurement and stop hiding behind the NIS.”

State’s response

In a statement on Friday, the government asked the public “to be wary of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories propagated   about Huduma Namba”. 

The database logistics and the software for NIIMS are 100 per cent Kenyan government-funded, designed, developed, and solely managed by Kenyans. No single component of the implementation process is handled by foreigners,” Mr Moffat Kangi, the Principal Administrative Secretary in the office of the President said.

“Over 90 per cent of the datasets collected from the 37 million Kenyans during the mass registration exercise have been cleaned up and matched,  with mass production of Huduma cards set to begin by the end of this year,” he added.

Mr Kangi also said that due to the sensitivity and criticality of the data, Dr Fred Matiang'i's Interior ministry will print and issue the cards.

He also noted that President Uhuru Kenyatta is regularly apprised of all matters concerning the NIIMS by the Cabinet Secretaries Technical Committee for the implementation of the system.

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho recently said the government will roll out another round of Huduma Namba registration in December and sought to reassure the public that their data is safe.

“Everybody will have an opportunity, through mass registration session two or walking to the registrar of persons in future, if they miss out because this will be a continuous process,” he said.

As the campaign fever settles in and with all pointers indicating that Mr Kenyatta will next week ease Covid-19 restrictions further, politicians are fully back from a long lull.

Politicians’ fears

The DP’s allies fear that with a central system with the information of all citizens, the government may  have a tool for disenfranchising their support base.

However, they did not give evidence to support their allegations.

Their sentiments will further erode public confidence in a project riddled with controversy following initial claims that the government may have lost all the data collected during the first leg of registration.

The statement noted that a case filed at the High Court, challenging the rollout of the new data regime, slowed the process but that the Interior ministry is doing everything within its powers to complete it as soon as possible.

“The court directed that the government roll out the system on condition that an appropriate and comprehensive regulatory framework on the implementation of NIIMS, that is compliant with the applicable constitutional requirements, is first enacted,” Mr Kangi said.

He said that as part of the process to comply with the court order, the Interior and ICT ministries have drafted The Data Protection (Civil Registration) Regulations, 2020 and The Registration of Persons (National Integrated Identity Management System) Regulations, 2020, which will be operationalised after public participation.

“A pre-publication scrutiny of the two statutory instruments has been held with the Parliamentary Committee on Delegated Legislation preparatory to their enactment into laws,” Mr Kangi said.