Coast Regional Commissioner John Elungata has expressed his satisfaction with the rate at which residents were turning out to register for Huduma Namba in the region.
He said at least 400,000 residents had turned out in the six counties to register with the National Integrated Information Management System (NIIMS) in the first eight days of the exercise.
“Our population is just about 3.5 million people and I am confident that we shall easily capture the biometric details of all citizens in the region within the stipulated time,” he told journalists at Gafuru village in Tana River County Wednesday.
Elungata, who was in the county to monitor the exercise, expressed optimism that the exercise would be a success, but urged residents not to wait till the last minute to register for the unique identification number.
“Our population is not very big. We have about 3.5 million people and we have been registering about 50,000 people daily in the first eight days of the exercise,” he said.
This, he said, was despite the fact that registration officials experienced network challenges in some place at the initial stages.
The Regional Commissioner dispelled fears that the Huduma Namba was demonic, saying it was aimed at making it easy for wananchi to receive government services using one card unlike the current situation in which one has to produce a number of cards for different government services.
He called on all citizens and foreigners who know they would require government services to turn out and register for the number in the remaining days.
“The government wants its citizens to be in one database and I am happy to report that the number of citizens turning out to register for the Huduma Namba is increasing daily,” he noted.
He assured wananchi that the Huduma Namba was neither superstitious nor religious saying the government had good intentions as it aimed at serving its citizens better.
“It is not true that the Huduma Namba is the same as the biblical (number of the beast) 666,” he said adding, “I urge wananchi to ignore such rumours and be registered into the government’s digital database,” he said.
He said those who would get the unique number would not have to carry numerous cards while seeking government services, noting that the exercise was aimed at making life easier than it currently is.
“I’m not sure whether people peddling such rumours are aware that we have all along registered people,” he added.
“People have many cards such as the National Identity Cards, driving licenses, National Hospital Insurance Fund cards and National Security Insurance Fund cards, which we now want to collapse into one card,” he said.
Elungata, who was flanked by Tana River County Commissioner Oning’oi ole Sosio and members of the County Security Committee, visited Kalkacha, Malindi ya Ngwena and Gafuru villages in Galole constituency where he witnessed wananchi registering for the unique number.
By Emmanuel Masha
