Laikipia residents sensitised on Maisha Namba digital ID

Nanyuki, 

Thursday, September 21, 2023 

KNA by Muturi Mwangi

Laikipia residents have been sensitised about the Maisha Namba digital identification card ahead of the official launch on September 29 by President Dr. William Ruto.

Laikipia County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri speaking during a public participation forum on Maisha Digital ID in Nturukuma location, in the outskirts of Nanyuki Town said that, in introducing the new digital ID, the government saw there was need to leverage on technology since the current IDs were out-dated.

“We have had ID registration since colonial times and we have continued digitizing our records for easy retrieval. It has reached a time that the government has decided there is a need to upgrade and acquire Maisha Namba for efficient service delivery,” said the administrator.

He noted that Kenyans had many government identification documents including Kenya Revenue Authority PIN, National Security Social Fund, National Health Insurance Fund, birth certificate and National ID card among other documents which were bulky and tedious to retrieve when seeking for government services, and that with the expected rollout of the digital ID, that would be a thing of the past.

“The digital ID would ensure that personal data are consolidated into a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) for efficient service delivery when seeking government services,” Kanyiri said.

The administrator noted that the Maisha Namba would serve as a unique lifelong personal number when one is born until their death.

He called on residents to turn up and get registered once they launch the exercise later this month.

National Registration Bureau, Laikipia County Coordinator Munene Mugira said that the 2nd generation ID card was out-dated and didn’t match with the 2010 Constitution hence the government needed to phase it out.

“The government seeks to replace outdated information in the current ID card like districts which were used before the new Constitution. So it will be of great importance for you to get the digital ID,” said Mugira.

He lauded the Maisha card noting it would be of great relief to people wishing to travel within the East African Community since they would not require travel documents such as passports as the Maisha Namba card would be authorised. Mugira said that the Maisha Namba card met the international standard as UPI.

Ann Wanjira, a resident, said that it was a good project since their personal documents would be consolidated into a single database for efficient service delivery.

On his part, John Kamau, a resident, said that the government spent a lot of money to replace IDs and thus called for a lasting solution to ensure there would be no such initiative in the future.

Meanwhile, the new Maisha Namba will have improved security features that can’t be altered or forged. Further, for one to be issued with the Maisha Namba card, he or she would be required to have their photo image, residential data, biometric and biographic data taken to ensure the card has strong and unique security features that are not prone to manipulation.

Courtesy; KNA