Birth registration to go digital starting March 1

The government has introduced two new digital IDs, assigned to newborns and 18-year-olds, as it expands its biometric database.

The two introduced identifiers are in addition to a number of other identifiers that Kenyans must contend with and that connect them to healthcare and social security, tax and education services, among other things.

A Kenyan must obtain a National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) number, an Identity Card number, a KRA Pin number, a National Social Security Fund number, a National Hospital Insurance Fund number, and a Huduma number throughout their lifetime in order to access government services.

This has frequently raised the question of how many documents the government requires to identify the same individual.

The answer, the government said during the launch of Huduma Namba in 2019, was to have a single point of reference such as the Huduma card.

Yesterday, Principal Secretary State Department of Civil Registration Services Prof Julius Bitok launched the Unique personal identifier (UPI) number and the National Digital Identifier (NDI).

The UPI will be given to newborns at birth for use throughout their lives.

National Digital Identifier on the other hand will be given to 18 year olds when they apply for IDs.

The NDI will be used to replace the current generation of identification cards.

The Kenya Kwanza government made it clear yesterday that it was abandoning Huduma Namba, which was implemented by President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration.

Bitok said this number will be different from the Huduma number, which was not consultative, and that there will be no need for future censuses or new registrations for Kenyans.

Birth registration will go digital on March 1 as the government aims to digitise more than 5,000 services by June. Currently, 300 services are available.

According to Isaac Ochieng, director general of E-citizen Services, Kenya will be among the first African countries to digitise all of its services.

In Nairobi county, the UPI is already being used as a pilot project at Mama Lucy Hospital, Komarock Hospital, Kayole 2 Dispensary, Mbagathi Hospital, and Pumwani Maternity Hospital.

The service will eventually be available through the E-citizen portal, alongside other services such as business registration, passport applications, and so on.

After logging in to the E-citizen portal under Civil Registration Services, one will be able to apply for birth and death certificates, as well as correct birth certificate errors, among other services.

Bitok spoke at the induction of registrars from the 47 counties at the Kenya School of Government in Kabete, where he said digitisation will be a game changer.

"Among other benefits, the UPI will bring accuracy to the birth registration process, remove border counties' complaints of discrimination, and close all revenue loopholes that have existed with manual birth registration," Prof Bitok said.

He said once the UPI is officially implemented, the census exercise used to determine the country's population may be discontinued.

"We are currently doing 86 per cent of birth certificates and 60 per cent of death registration, but once this UPI is operational, we will be able to do 100 per cent of the two services," said the PS.

Ochieng added that the UPI will also eliminate paperwork, and that once all government services have been digitised, government revenue will increase from Sh1.3 trillion to Sh2.8 trillion.