The High Court on Thursday declared the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), popularly known as Huduma Namba, as lawful, paving the way for the government to implement it.
In their ruling, a three-judge bench made of justices Pauline Nyamweya, Mumbi Ngugi and Weldon Korir said the introduction of the central database was lawful but directed that its implementation must be done under a regulatory framework.
NIIMS is a government-controlled digital platform that seeks to digitize and centralize data of all citizens and foreigners in Kenya as wells as Kenyans in the diaspora.
However, the court barred the government from collecting DNA and GPS data, saying it is “intrusive, unnecessary and unconstitutional.” The judges, therefore, declared clauses that required collection of DNA and GPS information as null and void.
“Collection of DNA & GPS for purposes of identification is intrusive and unnecessary to the extent it is not authorized by anchoring legislation is unconstitutional,” ruled the court.
The judgment was made following petitions lodged by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), the Nubian Rights Forum and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR). The petitioners were challenging the constitutionality of the Huduma Namba system.
While defending Huduma Namba before the court last year, Interior PS Karaja Kibicho said the system would curb adulteration of data as captured in the national population record.
“We have had cases of people sharing identity card numbers and in many cases, non-Kenyans who have the documents. The system will cure all these,” he told the court.
