Months after the May 25, 2019 deadline elapsed, he counts among one of many Kenyans that haven’t registered in the National Integrated Identity Management System, also known as the Huduma Namba.
Initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta and executed by the CS Fred Matiang’i-led Ministry of Interior and Coordination and National Government, all Kenyans were expected to sign up for the system.
Mirroring the US’ Social Security Number, the Huduma Namba was expected to facilitate access to social services; education, healthcare, driver’s license, financial accounts, mobile phone numbers, voter registration and a wide array of citizen services.
However, for Ahmed Khalil Kafe, a Kenyan of Nubian descent, the transition to biometric identification has been a rough one. He is a retired officer who was attached to the presidential escort during the Mzee Kenyatta era.
Speaking to kenyagist.com, Shafi Ali, chairman of the Nubian Rights Forum in Kenya, revealed that the former Kenyatta aide was turned away when he sought registration for the Huduma Namba.
Kafe lost his identification card in a robbery, shortly after he had retired from the police service in the ’70s. The former police officer has since been unable to acquire a replacement even after presenting sworn affidavits.
“It is contradictory how a former police officer and presidential escort can be denied an ID. He could not have been employed in the first place if he was not a Kenyan, and without an ID,” Shafi Ali told kenyagist.com.
“He has a waiting card that he was issued with more than three months ago,” he added.
Kafe was born and raised in Nairobi and resides in Kibera. He, along 31 other Kenyans, are embroiled in a court case seeking identification by the national government.
The former police officer is among the millions of ethnic, racial and religious minorities in the country who were subject to scrutiny by the government since the commencement of the Huduma Namba process.
Shafi Ali informed that a number of Kenyans from the Nubian community had faced outright rejection when they applied for identification documents.
Led by Shafi Ali, the Nubian Rights Forum, alongside two other civil rights groups, took to the courts to protest the biometric ID registration, arguing that the process had alienated several communities in the country.
“Immediately we presented Kafe in court as a witness, 16 of the other individuals were called in and given waiting cards. But nothing has materialised in over three months. This is discrimination of the highest order,” he lamented.
With over 73 years of age, Khalil Kafe is ill and faces challenges in accessing certain services for lacking an ID, among them the Inua Jamii stipend that is issued to senior citizens.
Shafi Ali, in his message, expressed his displeasure and disappointment in the manner with which the national government had treated members of the marginalised communities in Kenya.
A hearing at the High Court in Nairobi on Thursday, January 30, is expected to determine whether the CS Matiang’i-led project was still constitutional.
The Nubian community, along with the Indians, Arabs, the Borana and Maasai recorded the highest cases of rejection during the Huduma Namba registration process, as reported by the New York Times.
Like Khalil Kafe’s forefathers who were brought to Kenya from Sudan during the colonial rule over a century ago, border communities in Kenya were also greatly affected when it came to registration for the biometric system.
For registration, a number of them were asked to produce extensive documentation, stretching to land title deeds or identification papers of their grandparents.
The Kenyan government was determined to enact the project, and the move was lauded by international organisations, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, on grounds that it would enhance better access to services.
