Mutung\u2019u, G. (2021). Digital Identity in Kenya: Case study conducted as part of a ten-country exploration of socio-digital ID systems in parts of Africa<\/i> (Towards the Evaluation of Digital ID Ecosystems in Africa: Findings from Ten Countries) [Case study]. Research ICT Africa (RIA).<\/p>\n
Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n Like many other African countries, Kenya is implementing a digital ID <\/span>programme. However, Kenya\u2019s digital ID comes with a lot of baggage, as it <\/span>is an upgrade of its national identification document that has been in place <\/span>since the colonial period. The national identity card is also a citizenship <\/span>document that is required for movement within the country, access to <\/span>buildings, access to government services such as education and health <\/span>insurance, and access to private services such as employment and even for <\/span>registration of a SIM card. Policy advocates therefore warn that moving to <\/span>digital ID is not as easy as digitising the analogue register of persons, but <\/span>will also involve solving issues of inclusion and belonging for communities <\/span>that have had challenges accessing identification documentation over the <\/span> In considering the challenges and opportunities of digitising an existing <\/span>system such as Kenya\u2019s, the report finds that the main challenge with the <\/span>legal framework is that it prioritises introduction of technology without <\/span>resolving many other problems identified with the registration of persons <\/span>law. Existing problems such as the discretionary powers of registration <\/span>officers to issue the national identification card or lack of coherence <\/span>between the Registration of Persons Act (RPA) and other citizenship laws <\/span>persist. There are also concerns arising out of the National Registration <\/span>Bureau – the office charged with registration of persons – being housed <\/span> These problems could be solved through having a paradigm shift on <\/span>identification documentation as a right as opposed to the current practices <\/span>of securitisation. This can partly be achieved through a governing structure <\/span>that is dedicated to resolution of citizenship and identification issues. <\/span>The identification regime should also be more people-centric by providing <\/span>opportunities for every person whose data is captured to not only have <\/span>access to their data, but to also know who else has access to their data <\/span>and for what reason. In view of the fact that the digital ID programme aims <\/span>to create a population management database, the need for independent <\/span>oversight for issues such as data sharing cannot be overemphasised.<\/span><\/p>\n
last century. <\/span><\/p>\n
within the ministry of interior security. First, is the tendency to securitise <\/span>registration of persons, where the lack of a national identification card <\/span>is not only a criminal offence but presents an opportunity for a person <\/span>to be harassed by law enforcement officers. Second, the police have <\/span>appropriated for themselves a role in reputation management through <\/span>practices such as issuance of police clearance certificates. Through this <\/span>process, the police have normalised access to the national identification <\/span>database, a practice that has greater implications in the digital age.<\/span><\/p>\n