Nubian Rights Forum & 2 others v Attorney General & 6 others; Child Welfare Society & 9 others (Interested Parties) [2020] eKLR Kenya Law Reform Commission, established by the Kenya Law Reform Commission Act No. 19 of 2013 with the mandate of reviewing and preparing legislation to give effect to the Constitution. The cases of the two Respondents are captured together in this judgment as they were represented and their cases presented by the same Counsel. 384. The 4th Respondent, Mr. Reuben Kimotho, relied on a Replying Affidavit he swore on 26th February 2019. The 7th Respondent on its part filed Grounds of Opposition dated 26th March, 2019. 385. Mr. Kimotho deponed that NIIMS is not replacing the current registration systems. On the contrary, in order to be enrolled on NIIMS, an individual is required to produce proof of registration with either an identification card issued by the 4th Respondent, a birth certificate issued by the Civil Registration Service; a Foreign National Identification Card issued by the Immigration Services or a Refugee Identification Card issued by the Refugee Affairs Secretariat. 386. Further, that the 4th Respondent is mandated by the Act to keep, in a register of all persons in Kenya to whom the Act applies, particulars of their registration number, name, sex, declared tribe or race, date of birth or apparent age, place of birth, occupation, profession, trade or employment, place of residence and postal address, finger and thumb impressions or palm and toe impressions, date of registration, and such other particulars as may be prescribed. It was his deposition that the impugned amendments made various minor amendments to the particulars to be kept in the register including the introduction of biometric data as part of the said particulars, and also established NIIMS. Mr. Kimotho averred that the Act grants the Director of the 4th Respondent the power and discretion to prescribe the manner in which the particulars are to be recorded, which cannot be taken away as proposed by the Petitioners. 387. It was his deposition further that it is apparent from the data capture tool that the information collected for purposes of NIIMS is information that is already in the custody of the 4th Respondent and other government agencies. Mr. Kimotho stated that in addition to the data capture tool, the government has also captured digital biometric data, namely fingerprints and facial features, for the purposes of NIIMS. He described NIIMS as a central database of digital photographs and digital fingerprints of Kenyan citizens and residents for purpose of integrating the personal information captured in the data capture tool to the biometric data. It was also his averment that NIIMS is aimed at integrating and consolidating information of the type already held by the 4th Respondent, with an individual’s biometric data, for the purposes of creating, managing and operating a digitized national population register as a single source of personal information for all Kenyan citizens and residents. Mr. Kimotho averred that thereafter, each person will be assigned a unique national identification number known as the Huduma Namba. 388. He noted that this is an important departure from the current manual registration system identified in the Report by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in partnership with UNICEF, titled: “ Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis of Existing Identification and Registration Systems in Kenya, December, 2017” and reiterated the gaps acknowledged by the Report as stated by the 2nd and 3rd Respondents. He further pointed out that birth registration and identity card systems are not synchronized, and the deployment of NIIMS would address this challenge. 389. Mr. Kimotho responded to various concerns about NIIMS raised by the Petitioners. In response to the contention that NIIMS is duplicating the functions of the Integrated Population Registration Service (IPRS) and lack of transitional provisions, Mr. Kimotho asserted that these two systems perform separate and distinct functions, and there is therefore no need for transitional mechanisms in the impugned amendments. 390. Mr. Kimotho explained that IPRS is a repository of information received from various registration agencies as a secondary source of personal information, and merely collates the said information with no point of contact with the subject of the information. That on the other hand, NIIMS provides the avenue for the collection of foundational information for all Kenyan citizens and residents directly from the owner of the said information. http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 56/174