Nubian Rights Forum & 2 others v Attorney General & 6 others; Child Welfare Society & 9 others (Interested Parties) [2020] eKLR employment status, a result of requests made by other Ministries who needed the said data and for whom data was collected in the same form for purposes of cost effectiveness. 353. Dr. Kibicho further confirmed that the statement in the form that indicated the registration was mandatory was later removed, and the only mandatory documents required for the registration were either an identity card, birth certificate, passport or alien card. 354. Dr. Kibicho acknowledged that some of the information sought in the data capture form was already held by various government institutions but averred that the information had become adulterated. The main purpose of NIIMS therefore is to confirm the correct information about a person accurately in digitized form to address this shortcoming. On the disclaimer in the data capture form, Dr. Kibicho explained that this was a form of consent that the information collected could be given to authorized government agencies. 355. Dr. Kibicho further explained that the government had tried to collate personal data through setting up the Integrated Population System. This, however, did not solve the problem of adulteration of the data. It was his testimony that the Huduma Namba process will provide an opportunity for verification of documents and cleaning up of the personal data held by matching and verifying it with documents held in other databases. 356. On the requirement for DNA in the impugned amendments, Dr. Kibicho testified that the purpose of including DNA was to provide for as many unique identifiers in the law as possible. There was, however, no intention to collect DNA even though it is permitted by law. He asserted that for the Huduma Namba registration, the only biometrics collected were digital fingerprints and digital photographs. 357. When questioned on the public participation on NIIMS, Dr. Kibicho testified that he and various government officials and the national government administration infrastructure had sensitized the members of the public and carried out civic education on the benefits of NIIMS. He denied that they stated or threatened that the registration for Huduma Namba was compulsory. 358. Dr. Kibicho was also cross-examined on the Data Protection Policy of 2019 and data protection principles of fairness, transparency, accountability and data minimization. He stated in response that the government was open to engagement on any issues that the Petitioners may have with NIIMS. His testimony was that the Registration of Persons Act was the legal framework for NIIMS, and for the purposes of the Data Protection Policy and Bill, the offices of Data Commissioner and Data Controller are yet to be established as the Bill is yet to be enacted. 359. It was his averment further that in relation to NIIMS, it is the Principal Registrar created in the Registration of Persons Act that is performing the functions of the Data Controller, and that the said Act also provides for offences if there is unlawful disclosure of data. He denied that the data collected on Huduma Namba will be exposed, maintaining that there are existing laws on data protection, and the Data Protection Bill is meant to consolidate these laws. 360. With regard to the application of the Registration of Persons Act to children, Dr. Kibicho disagreed that the Act does not apply to children under section 2 thereof. It was his position that it applies to all Kenyans including children, pursuant to the amendments made to the Act. He clarified that only birth certificates and not the fingerprints of children under the age of six (6) years were required during the Huduma Namba registration exercise. He also referred to the Executive Order that established the Huduma Namba Inter-ministerial Committee as providing the guiding laws on children. 361. With regard to the decisions of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child on the discrimination against Nubian Children, Dr. Kibicho testified that it had been implemented by way of budgetary allocations for registration exercises. The government had also implemented Rapid Results Initiatives and http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 52/174