Government Spokesperson Colonel (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna has pleaded with Kenyans to go and collect their Huduma Cards as the mass distribution by the government was launched last month.

Oguna disclosed on Thursday that only 200,000 out of 2 million people had reacted to the text messages the government had sent to them to collect their cards after the rollout launch on February 2.

He has appealed to those who have received SMS to provide their preferred collection centers and then go and collect the Huduma Namba cards when prompted to by a subsequent message.

Oguna noted that a majority of Kenyans had delayed in selecting their preferred card collection locations in spite of receiving the text messages on their mobile phones.

“The options are actually in a link. You click the link and you will be given options. So, you choose an area that is convenient to you,” Oguna said.

He urged Kenyans to respond to the SMS within 3 days or they will be sent to their registration centers.

 “When the message disappears and your card is ready, we will go back to records, find out where you registered and send the card to a bureau near where you registered,” he added.

Any person who registered for Huduma number has been receiving a text from the Huduma Secretariat, with the first message seeking their preferred collection center and the second confirms delivery.

Oguna said the second Huduma Namba registration starts in May to give a chance to those who failed to register in the initial mass registration exercise in 2019, with the card set to replace the national ID.