The Kenyan government will launch a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) in March, according to Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services, Amb. Julius Bittok. The UPI will be used to register all newborn babies and deaths that occur in the country.
It will also provide a unique personal number for newborns that will be used in schools and colleges, as well as for identification, PIN numbers, the National Health Insurance Fund, and Kenya Revenue Authority.
Amb. Bittok explained that the introduction of the unique identifier will bring an end to the national census exercise as the new technology will provide accurate data on the country’s population.
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He said the Kenya Kwanza government has put the citizenry in the core, by putting the digital transformation first, adding, that Kenya cannot be left behind in the technological revolution.
The UPI model was borrowed from Estonia and will eliminate vetting and discrimination of registration at the border counties, and will allow every Kenyan to get services from the eCitizen Portal. The UPI will also confirm during registration whether a child is a Kenyan when the information details of the parents are populated at the eCitizen portal.
“The digital transformation will also capture monies and revenues paid to the government,” said Bittok. The government’s plan is to have all 5,000 government services uploaded on the eCitizen platform by 30th June this year.