The High Court has declared the rollout of the government's Huduma Namba programme illegal saying it did not follow the law.

In his ruling, Justice Jairus Ngaah said the Government failed to conduct data assessment before rolling out the cards in November 2020, colliding with the Constitution in the process.

In November 2020, law scholar Yash Pal Ghai and Katiba Institute moved to court to challenge the rollout over lack of guarantee against theft or misuse of personal information.

The two argued that the government failed to observe the fresh registration of Kenyans to data protection impact assessment (DPIA) as required under the law.

The assessment is aimed at identifying risks that could arise because of a breach of privacy, loss of data and unlawful use of information like names, date of birth, postcode and residences.

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The government rolled out its program of issuing the cards in early December 2020, after stating that the current National Identification Cards will cease being valid in December this year.

President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Huduma Namba mass registration on April 2, 2019.