'Huduma Namba' listing has hit 5 million mark, Matiang'i says

More than five million Kenyans have registered for the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i said Friday.

Speaking in Kisumu where he inspected the Huduma Namba registration event at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, the CS said that the government targets to register over 40 million Kenyans by May 17.

EXECUTIVE ORDER

“Huduma Namba is here to benefit us all. You should not listen to those spreading falsehoods,” Dr Matiang'i said.

He added that his ministry will from next week implement President Kenyatta's executive order to open more registration centers and have the exercise start by 6am to enable people to be enlisted before going to work.

He urged Kenyans to emulate President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga and register under the new system, which he said will help eliminate a lot of bureaucracies in delivery of government services.

“The two top leaders have led by example and I appeal on the rest of Kenyans to follow suit and benefit from the move which will make it easier for them to access government services.

“We will no longer have issues of ‘lost files’ as have been experienced by a number of Kenyans when accessing government services,” he said.

To expedite the process of registration, The CS ordered Nyanza Regional Commissioner James Kianda to increase the number of registration clerks.

Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o who accompanied the CS during the event said the new technology will make Kenya match Malaysia and South Korea which have digitized their systems and services.

“I am calling on Kisumu residents to turn out in large numbers and register for the exercise,” Prof Nyong’o said.

Also accompanying the CS were Education Chief Administrative Secretary Collete Suda, Nyando MP Jared Okello, Deputy Governor Mathews Owili and Kisumu County MP Rosa Buyu.

WESTERN REGION

Meanwhile, counties in the Western region have registered an estimated 1.3 million people in the last 10 days since the launch of NIIMS, Regional Commissioner Anne Ngetich said Friday.

“Our daily target for the region is 131,000 and so far we have managed to attain the target as planned, despite a few hitches affecting the reprocess during actual registration,” Mrs Ngetich said at the Huduma Centre in Kakamega Town.

Chiefs and registration assistants from the region have complained that poor network coverage in some parts and defective devices used in uploading the data were slowing down the process.

But Mrs Ngetich said officials involved in the registration were putting in their best efforts to try and cope with the impressive turnouts reported at registration centres. “We are progressing well across the region and efforts are being made to try and ensure the hitches reported by registration officials are addressed,” said Mrs Negtich.

She said the long queues at registration centres was an indication that residents were in support of the initiative.

In Homa Bay, Labour Principal Secretary Nelson Marwa cited frequent power outages in Homa Bay County as the major hindrance to the success of Huduma number registration.

This was after it emerged that Ndhiwa Town, where the Homa Bay County launch of the Huduma Number registration exercise was held yesterday, has been without electricity for several days.  Electricity is needed to charge registration kits used in the exercise.

Mr Marwa said frequent power blackouts would slow down the process of registration because the kits would run out of power. 

“The government has heavily invested in this programme and it would be a disadvantage if it's intention is not achieved,” the PS said when he officiated the launch exercise at Post Grounds in Ndhiwa.

So far the county has register 172,104 people against 1.6 million targeted registration. 

Reporting by Benson Amadala, Victor Raballa and George Odiwour