The government has urged Kenyans to submit their oral and memoranda on the Data Protection Regulations, 2020 to enable the safeguarding of the processing of personal data by civil registration entities.
ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said the two-day public participation forum which started yesterday and ended today countrywide has given Kenyans an opportunity to scrutinise and get clarifications on the regulations, as well as submit their views.
“This exercise is crucial as it will give Kenyans an opportunity to submit any issues that they would like considered before it is submitted to the National Assembly for approval,” said Mucheru
The CS made the remarks today during the Data Protection (Civil Registration) Regulations, 2020 public participation forum in a speech read on his behalf by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology Chief Administrative Secretary Maureen Mbaka at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre.
Mucheru said once the document is approved by the National Assembly, the government will put in place the required measures and start the issuance of Huduma Namba and Cards. He said the full implementation of the project will be of immense benefits to the public.
“It will be an accurate, reliable and comprehensive population registration database that will facilitate adequate planning and enable efficient service delivery to Kenyans,” he assured.
The CS expressed confidence that the project will also ease security management, enable verification, validation and authentication of personal data of every individual, minimize cases of identity theft, as well as promote standardization and streamlining of relevant government processes.
He urged those who have not submitted their views to forward them before 5.00pm on 2nd March, 2020 at the Principal Secretary, State Department of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs at Teleposta Towers, to the Regional Commissioners, County Commissioners and Deputy County Commissioners offices in the 47 counties, at the Huduma Namba Secretariat at Teleposta Towers or email to dataregulations@ict.go.ke and regulations@hudumanamba.go.ke.
The CS said the registration of Huduma Namba exercise which was launched on April 2, 2019 by President Uhuru Kenyatta and was stopped by three groups who had petitioned against the rollout of the exercise.
The judgement issued on January 30 this year allowed the government to continue with the project but before it commences, the government is required to put in place a regulation to guide on data privacy and security and the management of the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS).
He said the successful exercise which was conducted for 52 days had registered and digitally captured at least 37,724,521 Kenyans and foreign nationals’ personal data.
“This had never been witnessed in the history of our country before where all political leaders of different persuasions rallied their supporters to a government driven programme and millions of Kenyans providing personal data without any coercion,” said the CS.
The forum was attended by the Nairobi County Commissioner Flora Mworoa and Deputy County Commissioners among others.
By Bernadette Khaduli and Diana Wambulwa
