Civil society groups have threatened to go to court to stop the intended roll out of Maisha Namba by President William Ruto.
The lobby groups said the digital ID has not gone through adequate public participation and data protection framework therefore undermining its legality.
The groups among them Nubian Rights Forum, Kenya Human Rights Commission, Defenders Coalition, Katiba Institute, Article 19 among others now want an immediate halt of the project.
“Wider broad-based engagements with the public, civil society and other stakeholders have been non-existent, and to that end, the current efforts of the government to develop digital ID are cascading dangerously towards the pitfalls that stalled huduma namba,” they said.
"A move to digital IDs is not a minor change but one that significantly changes how legal identification is administered in our country. As such, we need to get it right and improve access to nationality, data protection and individual’s privacy rather than erode it.”
The government said it will roll out the uptake of the digital ID on September 29.
Immigration PS Julius Bitok said the digital ID will be launched in Nakuru tasking the national administration officials to intensify public sensitization about it.
The state said creating a digital identity eco-system will assign individuals a lifelong unique identification number starting from birth through to the generation of ID cards.
The digitisation process will also consolidate a national master population register that will merge existing databases into a single register of Kenyans and foreigners in the country.
"The government should use this opportunity to initiate a cross-stakeholders powered process with a transition period to ensure a smooth rollout of digital ID, they added.
The roll out of the digital ID is facilitated by UNDP which signed a support agreement with the government on August 14, 2023.
PS Bitok met met various civil society organizations in February 2023 in the run up to the planning as part of consensus building.
"Because, there has not been a single public participation forum or other channels created to solicit input and feedback from the Kenyan public, no data protection assessment made public, no public awareness has been conducted, and no safeguards have been put in place the process should halt," the activists said.
They demanded that the government enacts a proper legal framework to govern the system and borrow from the pitfalls that downed huduma namba.
It also wants the government to invest in wide-reaching public participation not just to sensitize them but also to have their substantive input.
It should also conduct data protection assessment to ensure that Kenyans who give their details are not at risk.
“Conduct a robust data protection and human rights Impact assessment of the system that are made public for scrutiny and from which improvements will be made to the system design,” they said.