The High Court has ruled that the ongoing Huduma Namba roll out is illegal. In a ruling that was delivered by Justice Jairus Ngaah, the court ruled that the government should have conducted an impact assessment before rolling out the Huduma Cards, and orders for the process to be conducted before proceeding with the roll out.
Law scholar Yash Pal Ghai and Katiba Institute had, in November 2020, sued the Ministry of Interior, and challenged the roll-out of the cards over lack of guarantee against theft or misuse of Kenyans’ personal information.
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In the ruling, though, Justice Ngaah ordered the government to create safeguards to protect Kenyans’ data because the cards have already been rolled out. This effectively created space for the government to make adjustments without recalling the whole Huduma Namba roll out process. The adjustments will be aimed at regularizing the roll out.
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The Government started issuing the cards in early December 2020, after stating that the current National Identification Cards would cease being valid in December this year. The Huduma Namba process has so far consumed Sh. 10.6 billion.