If you have not made up your mind about getting a passport or renewing it, now will be a good time before shit hits the fan.
The controversial National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) is a program that seeks to create a single database for personal information for all Kenyans after which they will be issued a Huduma Namba as a unique identifier as the government of Kenya seeks to have registration of all Kenyan Citizens and registered foreigners resident into the system.
Despite the High Court suspending the mandatory roll-out of Huduma Namba barring the government from issuing deadlines for the collection of NIIMS data or making registration of Huduma Namba a condition for receiving government services or sharing Huduma Namba data with any foreign organization, the government is literally having its way.
Immigration Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa on Tuesday declared that any Kenyan who will apply for a passport without prior Huduma Namba registration will be treated as a foreigner. Speaking during the launch of a monitoring exercise of implementation of the report on examinations into the systems, policies, procedures, and practices at the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services warned Huduma Namba abstainees
“If you are not in the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) and you are actually applying for a passport, then we’d know very well that you are not a Kenyan because that will be the single source of truth. If that programme succeeds it will actually address our problems because then we will have the data with us because then we can interrogate,” asserted PS Kihalangwa.
He said that though his department has the Integrated Population Registration Services (IPRS), Huduma Namba is a big shot. The PS was speaking during the launch of a monitoring exercise of implementation of the report on examinations into the systems, policies, procedures, and practices at the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services.
“Now Huduma Namba is a total upgrade and that is why it must succeed. It will not only assist us in security matters but also in service delivery,” he said.
Kihalangwa admitted they have challenges, including on integrity and failure in their systems but still necessitated the need for every Kenyan to register for the Huduma Namba if they wanted to access crucial government services such as a passport.
Although most Kenyans have shunned from registering for Huduma Namba, sooner or later it will catch up with them.
