The Huduma Namba: What You Need to Know

The top most searched phrase by Kenyans on Google during the month of April was Huduma Number (Huduma Namba) and it appears Kenyans are yet to get a feel of what the number is all about and why they should have it.

In fact, since the kick of the conversation about Huduma Namba, no single day has passed without it ruling and dominating the streets of Twitter. Almost everywhere, tongues are wagging on what Huduma Namba is.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of negative energy about Huduma Namba. This negative energy has actually drowned any positive comment about the drive by the government to have every Kenyans register for the said number.

The truth is, millions of Kenyans who are yet to register for this number do not know what the number is for and why they should have it. I think we need to give the other party, the government, to clearly define the Huduma Namba and why Kenyans should have it. At the moment, we have denied the government that opportunity.

What is Huduma Namba?

Huduma Namba is an initiative by the government to create and manage a central master population database which will be the “single source of truth” on a person’s identity.

With the rallying call of Huduma Namba kwa Huduma Bora (Huduma Namba for better services), the database will contain the information of all Kenyan citizens as well as foreign nationals residing in Kenya. It will also serve as a reference point for the ease of service delivery to the people of Kenya.

Maybe the packaging of the messaging at the initiation of the Huduma Namba was not done in the right manner and the negative sentiments overtook the initial purpose before even it was explained and amplified for people to understand.

Read:

• Huduma Namba: Requirements and Process as Deadline Looms
• The Huduma Namba: Why Should You Register?

Let us be honest, you cannot plan for what you do not know. When the government has the exact number of its citizens in a central database, it is easy to know, how many people you have and makes it easy to budget and delivers the services.

What many people have failed to realize is that Huduma Namba harmonizes all the documents you have. It does not make the documents irrelevant but harmonizes them. For me, Huduma Namba is like a folder containing all your information including all the other documents. Every time you want to access a service that requires the use of NHIF, for instance, there will be no need of producing the NHIF Card, but Huduma Namba, which the service provider will use to access your NHIF information. See?

The government initiated the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) program through the Executive Order No. 1 (2018) that kicked off the consolidation process of data from primary population registration agencies.