The High Court on Thursday declared the government’s rollout of Huduma Namba cards unconstitutional on grounds that no data protection safeguards were implemented by the Interior ministry.
Justice Jairus Ngaah has, however, gave the Interior ministry an opportunity to regularise the process by ordering that an impact assessment be done in relation to data collected from over 36 million Kenyans, many of whom have already collected their Huduma Cards.
Katiba Institute sued the Interior ministry last year seeking to block the rollout, arguing that no guarantees were given that Kenyans’ data is safe from abuse
# Orders.
“An order is hereby issued quashing the government decision of November 18, 2020, to roll out Huduma cards for being ultra vires of the data protection act 2019,” Ngaah ruled.
The High Court has also ordered the government to carry out the impact assessment before rolling out the Huduma cards.
“Order of mandamus is hereby issued compelling the government to conduct a data protection impact assessment in accordance with section 31 of the data protection act before processing of data and rolling out the Huduma cards,” the Judge ordered.
The decision comes after Katiba Institute and law scholar Yash Pal Ghai challenged the roll-out of Huduma Namba cards over lack of guarantees of theft or misuse of Kenyans’ personal information.
The lobby group and Prof Ghai argued that the State failed to subject the fresh registration of Kenyans to data protection impact assessment (DPIA) — a requirement under the law.
The assessment is aimed at flagging risks that could reveal breaches of privacy, loss of data and unlawful use of information like names, date of birth, postcode and residences.
Currently, the majority of Kenyans have received Huduma Namba cards after the rollout of the same. The current national identity cards will be invalidated in December this year
