Every Kenyan with a Huduma Namba will automatically be registered as a taxpayer upon attaining 18 years of age, a new bill proposes.
Huduma Bill 2021 states that the Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General will activate tax obligations of every individual once they turn 18 years.
“Every resident individual who has enrolled into the National Integrated Identity Management System…shall by default be a registered taxpayer upon attaining the age of eighteen years,” the bill reads in part.
Therefore, on completion of their initial enrolment into the Huduma Namba platform, persons above 18 years and not registered as a taxpayer will automatically face tax obligations.
“The Huduma Namba assigned to an individual under the Huduma Act, 2021, shall serve as PIN for the purposes of tax law,” the bill reads.
Presently, persons are registered as taxpayers only upon obtaining a tax Personal Identification Number (PIN).
The bill further provides that a refugee would be eligible to be assigned with a Huduma Namba and be issued with a Huduma card.
The proposed law further states that a Huduma Namba issued to an individual will also be used to access any service under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
The bill repeals the Births and Deaths Registration Act, the Registration of Persons Act, and Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service Act, 2011.
“An identity card issued under the Registration of Persons Act (now repealed) shall continue to be valid up to such time as the Cabinet Secretary may by notice in the Gazette specify,” the bill reads, saying the same of passports and travel documents.
IEBC would also be able to use information in the NIIMS database to compile, maintain, revise, and update voters’ register.
“The commission may utilise the information in the NIIMS database for the purpose of conducting an audit of the register,” the law states.
In the proposed changes, details of marriage would also be fed into the system once a marriage is registered or annulled.
“A NIIMS officer shall cause the certificate of marriage or decree of annulment of marriage to be accessible by parties under the NIIMS database.”
According to the state-backed legislation, NIIMS would also be handy for persons applying for a drivers’ licence.
“A licensing officer shall utilise the NIIMS database for personal data of an applicant for the purpose of issuing a license,” the bill reads.
The state explains in the bill sponsored by Majority Leader Amos Kimunya that the NIIMS would be the primary database from which every other database with personal data will be built.
Databases of voters, taxes, and social services will be built from the Huduma platform.
“This will create an efficient identity system that will present opportunities for fiscal savings, development of the digital economy and enhanced public and private sector service delivery,” Kimunya said in the bills’ memo.
The bill further provides that newborns would be immediately assigned a Huduma Namba, and the same retired and card revoked upon death.
“Every birth occurring in the country shall be registered in the prescribed manner through the NIIMS within 90 days of its occurrence,” the proposed law reads.
A certificate of birth shall be generated and issued from the NIIMS database, the law reads.
Minors – above six years, would be assigned a card and would have to present the same to a NIIMS officer within 90 days of them turning 18 for updating.
Passports and death certificates would also be issued through the system should MPs approve the bill.
Offences under NIIMS would include giving false information, forging a document, impersonation, and illegally influencing the decision of a NIIMS officer.
Making, producing, printing, designing or distribution of Huduma card would be illegal and would attract Sh3 million fine or three years in jail or both.
Sh5 million fines await any person who discloses, transmits, or disseminates any foundational data collected for NIIMS use.
Those who decline to give information required for registration of births or deaths will be liable for Sh10,000 fine on conviction.
Staffs working at the National Registration Bureau, Civil Registration Services, Immigration department, and Integrated Population Registration Services will be deployed to carry out the functions of their respective office within the NMS.