You Won’t Register a Marriage Without A Huduma Namba

Imagine not being able to register a marriage because you don’t have a Huduma Namba? Well, this will be the case if the bill that is to be presented before parliament becomes law.

According to the bill, some of the things that one without a Huduma Namba will not be able to do include “register a marriage.” Basically, you will remain “illegally married without a Huduma Namba to legalize it.”

If the bill passes through parliament to become law, the current Identification Cards (IDs) will stop being used as legal identification upon the passing of the law and Kenyans will solely introduce themselves using a Huduma Card.

The new Bill is called the Huduma Bill 2019 and is the latest move by the government that will see all persons living in Kenya register for Huduma Namba whether they like it or not.

According to the Bill which is already public, the Huduma Namba will serve as proof for identification for all Kenyans and will be used for all the services that currently require the use of an ID Card.

In the Bill, a National Integrated Identify Management System) database will be created and will contain all data collected from Kenyans with each person assigned a unique number.

Initially, Huduma Namba was not “mandatory” and Kenyans were required to “register” at will. The High Court barred the government against victimizing Kenyans who refused to register for the Huduma Namba.

The government says that about 36 million Kenyans registered for the Huduma Namba during the first drive that was marred with chaos, confusions, threats from the government coupled with court orders.

The government is now mulling rolling out a complete fresh registration for the same or just kickoff another exercise for those who did not register during the first drive.