Nubian Rights Forum & 2 others v Attorney General & 6 others; Child Welfare Society & 9 others (Interested Parties) [2020] eKLR affirmative action for Nubians and those who pass the vetting have been issued with identity cards. It was his testimony that the assertion by the Petitioners that Nubians are not given identity cards is a false one. 362. It was also his testimony that incremental registration of births of children was adopted under NIIMS, which is to be achieved by cleaning up of data on the births already registered and registering new births in the system. Further, that this approach arose from recommendations in the SWOT analysis undertaken by UNICEF and the benchmarking and study tours of the Estonian registration system. 363. Dr. Kibicho denied that the vetting of Nubians before issue of identity cards was done on ethnic grounds. He explained that the vetting is only done where a Registrar is in doubt about the citizenship of a person from the communities living in Counties bordering other countries, which he termed as border communities. With regard to the composition of the vetting committees, Dr. Kibicho clarified that the committees are identification committees set up under the Act and are government led, with local elders being included at the discretion of the Chair of the committee 364. He confirmed that those without identity cards were not registered with NIIMS but stated that the Respondents were making efforts to ensure that the Nubians are issued with identity cards, though he stated that it was not all Nubians who did not have identity cards. It was Mr. Kibicho’s position that registration with NIIMS is a continuous process and one can be registered upon obtaining an identity card. Dr. Kibicho denied that NIIMS registration is necessary for service provision by the government but that it will be more convenient to get services with the Huduma Namba. In his view, it is for a person to choose if they wish to be inconvenienced or not. 365. With regard to whether a cost-benefit analysis of NIIMS had been done, Dr. Kibicho stated that taxpayers money of Kshs 7 billion had been spent so far on the system, and that at completion, Kshs 9 billion would have been spent. While the government was not asked to provide the costing on the benefits of NIIMS, such figures are available, and he had enumerated the benefits in his response to the Petitions. 366. According to Dr. Kibicho, the amendments to the Act were therefore minor as the new data collected was minimal, and it is the digitization of the data which is novel. He, however, conceded that there would be risks if the data is not protected. While protecting national security is one of the uses of NIIMS, the entire NIIMS data cannot be exempted from protection on grounds of national security, and that there are security laws which prescribe the circumstances when this can be done. He also confirmed that no rules were developed after the amendments of the Act to guide the Huduma Namba registration. 367. In re-examination by Mr. Regeru, Dr. Kibicho explained that digitization is one of the reform platforms of the government. While there had been other initiatives undertaken, digitization of the population register was lacking and was needed to complement efficient service delivery. He reiterated his evidence on the public participation held, the mandatory documents that were needed for the Huduma Namba registration, that the said registration was not mandatory and that DNA was not collected nor is its collection planned during the exercise. 368. Dr. Kibicho explained that the physical attendance of a registrant is important in NIIMS for purposes of recording biometrics arising from the adulteration of existing databases, and the physical presence of a person is required to match him or her to the existing data. He also explained that people gave their consent by annexing a digital signature or thumbprint, and the incremental registration will result in a situation where everyone has only one unique identifier. 369. Dr. Kibicho stated that 31,500 Huduma Namba registration kits were acquired, and that they would be left with the Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs and civil registration clerks for continued registration. With respect to the question of vetting for identity cards, Dr. Kibicho reiterated that it is not unique to Nubians, it is done by Assistant Chiefs for all Kenyans, including among border communities, and the vetting committee is a second level of http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 53/174