Explained: In Kenya’s digital ID system, echoes of India’s Aadhaar  

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Written by Mehr Gill | Updated: January 31, 2020 7:46:40 pm

A Kenyan government brochure about NIIMS has referred to it as a database where information will be centrally consolidated and has called it the “soul (sic) source of information on a person’s identity”. (Photo courtesy: Creative Commons)

The Kenyan government has come up with a new digital identification system, as part of which each citizen will be assigned a Unique Identification Number (UID) or the “Huduma Namba” (as it is referred to in Swahili), sparking fears among Kenya’s ethnic and religious minority communities who claim that are facing more stringent rules to procure documents that are needed to get a Huduma Namba. The biometric project is being led by the Kenyan Interior Ministry and is called the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS).  In India, the UID is referred to as Aadhaar.

Kenyan demography

According to the University of Pennsylvania’s African Studies Center, there are over 70 distinct ethnic groups in Kenya, ranging from about seven million Kikuyu to roughly 500 members of El Molo. Kikuyu is the largest ethnic group in the country, constituting about 20 per cent of the country’s population. Even so, members of the Kikuyu group are “disproportionately represented in public life, government, business…”. This has been one of the reasons for interethnic rivalries and resentment over Kikuyu members’ dominance in politics and government. Furthermore, the main non-indigenous ethnic groups include the Arabs and Asians, which also includes Indians. There are also the Nubians, who are one of the oldest communities in the country. The Nubian Rights Forum, however, adds:  “…but to date are still a community with no clear direction, identification, recognition and integration within the current Kenyan government and society at large.”