ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has termed as a brilliant idea, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's Huduma Namba project, but noted it failed due to lack of proper sensitisation.
Owalo, who spoke during an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday night, said the idea behind Huduma Namba resonates with the Kenya Kwanza administration's philosophy.
The CS said, like the Huduma Namba, the KK government's plan is to simplify the access of government services for Kenyans.
“The intention of Huduma Namba was good because it was trying to ensure that we have a digital identity that could facilitate virtual transactions between the government and the public as far as the provision of services is concerned,” Owalo said.
However, Owalo said the timing of the launch of the project when Kenyans were gearing up 2022 general elections, was President Kenyatta's biggest blunder.
"If you remember it was being launched at a time when there was also a crowded political atmosphere. So there were suspicions about it," Owalo said.
"The pitfall that befell Huduma Namba is that there was no adequate sensitization at the beginning."
The CS revealed that President Ruto's government was going to leverage on the project, to propel its 'Digital Superhighway' agenda.
“It is the same thing we are going to do as we roll out this government digitization process because it is still imperative that we don’t need as Kenyans to go to government offices flashing identity cards," he added.
Ruto's government is planning to digitise 5,000 government services by June.
At least 300 government services have already been digitised.
The project was launched in Machakos on April 2,2019 .
However, on October 14, 2021 the High Court has declared the Huduma Namba roll out illegal on grounds of being in conflict with the Data Protection Act, 2019.
Section 31 of the Data Protection Act requires data processing to be preceded by a data protection impact assessment to assess any data processing risks so that they can be mitigated.
Delivering the verdict, Justice Jairus Ngaah observed that the assessment was not done before rolling out the Huduma Namba cards.
