President William Ruto has directed the Ministry of ICT to work on a digital identity similar to the Huduma Namba.

Ruto was speaking on Friday at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) during the observation of International Data Privacy Day.

The president said the government will begin the registration of Kenyans to the digital platform by the end of the year.

“I have also asked the Ministry of ICT to work on a digital identity so that the big Huduma thing that never was we can finally have, as Kenya, a digital identity,” Ruto said.

“I have told ICT CS Eliud Owalo that by the end of this year, Kenyans must be able to identify themselves digitally because it is not the work of the government to issue IDs but to identify Kenyans.”

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This comes as a shock to many Kenyans, who expressed their displeasure about the introduction of the Huduma Namba.

Former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration introduced the first face of the Huduma Namba registration in 2018 before fully launching the program in 2019.

A lobby group known as Katiba Institute moved to court and sued the Interior Ministry, citing data security concerns with the program.

In October 2021, the High Court declared the Huduma Namba unconstitutional.

Ruto’s proclamation is a far cry from his earlier position because, during the 2022 election, his allies in the Kenya Kwanza faction claimed the Huduma Namba program was a scheme to rig the elections.