PS Bitok rallies religious leaders to promote government's Maisha Number initiative

Nairobi,

Thursday, October 26, 2023

KNA by KNA Carol Mawia/Shamim Kambi

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok today had a conversation with the religious leaders on the Maisha Digital ID where the latter agreed to support the initiative. In a second meeting with the religious leaders to discuss issues of public concern, Bitok said that the government is keen on introducing Maisha number, Card, Digital ID and Integrated data and merge all the four items into one. “We have 698 public participation forums across the country supported by our National Government and Administration Service and this is a bid to engage more to sensitize the public because issues to do with identity involve a lot of stakeholders and many partners across the board,” stated Bitok. Speaking when he hosted religious leaders to a stakeholders’ engagement forum on the digital ID and Maisha Number (Unique Personal Identifier), the PS said he was elated on having engagements with the civil society, private sectors, media, development partners, the business community and other persons engaged in the digital identity ecosystem. “Today’s meeting brought more understanding to broaden the scope and be able to explain more details about what we are doing to ensure that we roll out this Maisha number,” he emphasized. Bitok announced that on Tuesday October 31, the State Department has planned a meeting with Civil Society to explain to them more about important projects. He also called upon interested groups to continue submitting the memorandum of the issues they felt needed to be taken care of in the project. “The government is keen to listen to every concern and idea whether small or big to ensure that we get it right this time,” he assured. The PS, who highlighted several attempts that were made concerning the Digital ID which failed due to lack of more public participation, maintained the government’s determination to make it work this time. Religious leaders present in this public participation forum were drawn from different denominations including NCCK, the Hindu Council, and the Catholic Church among others.

Courtesy; KNA