Miguna Miguna slams Ruto over the new digital ID project (Maisha Cards)
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Miguna calls out President Ruto for advocating for a new generation of Digital ID, duped Maisha Cards instead of focusing on pressing needs in the country
Miguna calls out President Ruto for advocating for a new generation of Digital ID, duped Maisha Cards instead of focusing on pressing needs in the country.
Outspoken lawyer Miguna Miguna has made it clear that he opposes the idea by President William Ruto to introduce the new Digital Identification Card (Digital ID).
In a lengthy statement on Wednesday, Miguna provided five justifications as to why the ID, which is expected to cost up to Ksh1 billion, should not be given priority by the current administration.
In a letter with the direct block-lettered subject line, “I oppose the imposition of the National Digital ID in Kenya, ” Miguna argued that Ruto should use its resources to deal with other urgent issues like high unemployment, universal healthcare, and homelessness.
“Kenya lacks the legal, technological, and human capacity to protect privacy and prevent misuse of personal digital data. Kenya wasn’t even able to detect and prevent WorldCoin from illegally harvesting personal data from its citizens for more than one year,” argued Miguna.
“Kenya lacks the digital infrastructure to prevent cyber attacks, including hacking, hence making the harvesting, processing, and storage of digital identity prone to abuse and illegal poaching.”
The lawyer further read malice in the intended rollout arguing that the state had failed to incorporate public participation and likened it to other failed projects like the Building Bridges Initiative and the Huduma Namba.
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Miguna argued that developed countries like the United States and Canada were yet to introduce compulsory digital identification because their citizens are opposed to it.
“The Kenya Kwanza must refrain from forcing Kenyans to pay for another expensive white elephant with dubious origins,” he told his 2.4 million followers.
“Kenyans deserve to have clean running water, electricity, food, and healthcare per household before anyone lectures us about digital identification.”
Miguna’s statement came after on Tuesday, Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok confirmed that Ruto is set to roll out the Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) on September 29.
He noted that the National Steering Committee for Digital Identity approved the proposals made by the National Digital Identity Technical Committee.
The digital IDs will encompass four components Maisha Card, Maisha Namba, Digital Signature, and Master National Population Register.
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