The Kenyan government has partnered with civil society organizations to launch a public awareness campaign on the planned massive digitization of essential registration services. The move is aimed at addressing concerns around privacy and the security of data that will be collected during the registration process.
At a consultative forum between the government and representatives from 25 civil societies, Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok announced the creation of a joint working group to ensure the success of the digital registration project. The government hopes to digitize over 5,000 services to avoid implementation challenges experienced during previous digitization projects.
“We are committed to partnering with civil society. We are aware of the challenges the government went through during the Huduma Namba rollout. The price of failure was too high due to avoidable differences of opinion and tactics. We want to walk together to avoid unnecessary litigation and roadblocks that will negatively impact service delivery,” said Bitok.
The government seeks to avoid past failures and ensure stakeholder support for the project, as highlighted by Amnesty International Kenya Director Irungu Houghton, who voiced concerns about data protection and the involvement of the public and other stakeholders.
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“We need to make it possible for the public to be aware of what is happening so that they can participate fully and give feedback so that the exercise that has been mandated by the President moves with speed, depth, and integrity in regards to the Data Protection Act,” said Houghton.
Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait, who attended the meeting, emphasized that the full implementation of the Data Protection Act would mitigate investors’ concerns around identity theft and the security of their investments.
The joint working group will consist of government representatives and over 25 civil society groups, mainly drawn from organizations involved in the registration of citizens and human rights advocacy. The group will focus on public awareness of issues around digital registration and the rationale of the program, as well as draw up an engagement plan for stakeholders’ consultative forums and provide channels for feedback on pertinent issues.
