Biometric system introduced to register legislators in Parliament

By Alphonce Shiundu

Nairobi, Kenya: The National Assembly has introduced a new biometric system to register MPs every day as they get into the debating chamber. The new system will be introduced Tuesday afternoon as MPs resume the sittings for the Second Session of the 11th Parliament.

Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso told The Standard that all the 349 MPs have until the end of the week to have their details captured in the biometric system, so that, come next week, they will just have to press a finger on the fingerprint reader and their presence will be automatically registered.

The MPs will now have to place any of their fingers on either hand on a fingerprint reader, which will capture their details, instead of the manual process where they were always forced to queue at the door to pen down their signatures against their respective names.

Dr Laboso said the manual signing it was “giving us problems”.

“We decided that the best way is for us to have a biometric system. They will use their fingerprints to register at the door of the chamber. Such a register is important for the House, because, we use it to determine who is present and who is not, and we also use it to process their sitting allowances,” said Dr Laboso early Tuesday.

While the Deputy Speaker did not elaborate on the problems, insiders in the National Assembly said the process was slow, caused overcrowding at the entrance and was prone to abuse by some of the MPs, who tasked their colleagues to sign in on their behalf.

Dr Laboso added that the lawmakers will still use their smart cards –embedded with details of their name and constituency—to alert the Speaker that they are ready to contribute to the debate in the House.

“The biometric will be for registration. The MPs still have to use their cards to notify the Speaker that they wish to contribute,” said the Deputy Speaker.

Each seat in the debating chamber has a communication console with a microphone, a speaker, and a slot for the card.

Once the card is inserted, the MP then enters a secret personal identification number, and can press button to alert the Speaker whether (s)he has a contribution to make. Such a request is displayed on a screen next to the Speaker’s chair, and the Speaker, at his discretion, then presses a button on his console to give the MP a chance to speak.

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