The Government has expressed concern over the low rate of collection of the Huduma Card and urged Kenyans to respond to notification messages once they receive them on their phones.
According to the Government Spokesperson Col. (Rtd), Cyrus Oguna, to date 5.5 million cards have been processed and only three (3) million cards so far have been collected.
Oguna said that the process of distribution of Huduma Card has continued countrywide and the cards that are ready for collection are being dispatched for collection at National Registration Bureau (NRB) offices or ID Offices at the local level.
Speaking during a joint press briefing held at Pangani Housing project, Oguna called on Kenyans to respond to notifications which have the provision to change the preferred pick-up locations, explaining that the message will remain on the phone for 48 hours and then disappear.
“The second message informs you where the Card has been dispatched for collection. Should the Card be dispatched to a wrong location due to system error, corrective measures can be taken to address the issue, and NRB officers have been trained to assist with such occurrences,” said Oguna.
The Government Spokesperson informed that round II registration of the Huduma Card is set to start soon and all logistical preparations have been completed, and once rolled out, the exercise shall be carried out at NRB offices in the whole country.
“To improve the process of tracking the status of one’s card, the Government is developing a user-friendly portal with all necessary information. The portal will allow everyone to check the stage that their Huduma Card has reached. Further, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system is also being developed. This will help to assist callers with a variety of information on Huduma Namba,” said Oguna.
He added that the issuance of Huduma Card is free and nobody should be conned into giving out any money to anyone and any message purporting to be coming from the Government and asking the recipient for any money is fake and should be treated as so.
On the Covid-19 containment measures, Oguna said that the pandemic is still being experienced in the country and whereas the burden varies from County to County, it is important to note that Corona in one place is Corona in every place.
“Therefore, no one area is safe. hence It is of great importance that we continue to strictly observe the containment measures,” he said.
He also castigated the cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the country which have been on the rise in the recent past.
“Every member of the society has a role to play to prevent GBV. We are, therefore, appealing to the public to help compliment the Government’s efforts to fight GBV. We must all stand up against GBV through reporting and supporting victims and we must also discourage harmful and retrogressive cultural beliefs and practices,” said Oguna.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
