Editor's Review

"The Kenya Kwanza government must refrain from forcing Kenyans to pay for another expensive white elephant with dubious origins."

Lawyer Miguna Miguna has opposed the Kenya Kwanza government’s plan to introduce new digital identity cards. 

In a statement on Wednesday, September 13, Miguna stated that the digital IDs are not a priority to Kenyans who are facing unemployment, homelessness and no universal healthcare.

He pointed out that Kenya lacks the legal, technological, and human capacity to protect data that will be collected from Kenyans. 

“Kenya lacks the legal, technological, and human capacity to protect privacy and prevent misuse of personal digital data. Kenya wasn’t even able to detect and prevent Worldcoin from illegally harvesting personal data from its citizens for more than one year,” said Miguna.

The prominent lawyer also noted that Kenya lacks the digital infrastructure to prevent cyber-attacks, including hacking, hence making the harvesting, processing, and storage of digital identity prone to abuse and illegal poaching. 

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File image of  Lawyer Miguna Miguna. 

Miguna also observed that the introduction of the new digital IDs should have been subjected to public participation before being implemented adding that advanced countries like the United States and Canada have not introduced digital IDs due to opposition from their citizens. 

“Anything shrouded in mystery and rushed cannot pass the smell test. And even some of the most technologically developed countries like Canada and the USA haven’t introduced compulsory digital identification system because most of their citizens are opposed to its use due to some of the issues identified above,” Miguna noted.

He added, "The Kenya Kwanza government must refrain from forcing Kenyans to pay for another expensive white elephant with dubious origins."

Miguna’s remarks come a day after State Department for Immigration and Citizen Affairs Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced that the new digital IDs will be rolled out by President William Ruto on September 29, 2023.

Bitok also observed that Kenyans applying for IDs after attaining the mandatory age of eighteen years and those applying for replacements will be issued with the Maisha Card from the end of the month.

The Kenya Kwanza government will spend Ksh1 billion to roll out the new generation IDs.