The Senate on Thursday suspended the registration of the Huduma Namba referred to as the National Intergrated Identity Management System (NIMS) process until Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and ICT CS Joe Mucheru appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defense and Foreign Relations.
The decision to temporarily halt the exercise was decided after Matiang’i and Mucheru failed to appear before the council on Wednesday and instead sent their administrative secretaries.
The two leaders are set to re-appear before the committee on March 11 this year and inform the board why Parliament was not notified on the commencement of the process.
In addition, the two were summoned after Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot raised concerns over the justification of the processes in regards to the amount of personal information that will be collected from Kenyans.
Senator Johnson Sakaja, who is a member of the committee, criticized the action by the two leaders and interpreted it as a way of snubbing the summon issued.
Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot raises issues concerning Huduma Namba
Cheruiyot in a letter addressed to Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka, had pointed out that Matiang’i and Mucheru had to explain in detail the matter.
"Explain the reasons for the introduction of NIIMS. [Two] Provide ownership details of company(ies) undertaking the exercise and explain whether the due procurement process was followed in acquiring the services of the said company(ies)," read a part of the letter.
The lawmaker further requested for the two CSs to inform the country on the budget allocated for the exercise by outlining what each part would cost.