With $1 billion of financing behind the introduction of Unique Personal Identifiers, also called “Maisha Numbers”, allocated by the Kenyan government, national ID cards will slowly be replaced by a planned move towards digital identity.
Issued to all younger Kenyan citizens, the Maisha card will have a lifespan for various needs throughout the individual’s lifetime, serving through education, mandatory tax duties and even as a death certificate, when the ID card will expire.
Last month Kenya geared up to the transition from its current identification system by signing a MoU, or Memorandum of Understanding, that confirmed the UNDP’s support of a transformative digital identity rollout across the country, offering technical and financial support in raising funding to deliver a digital ID. Kenya will aim to close the gap of accessibility to services with enhanced digital verification.
Kenya has previously ventured into the reusable ID space before the Huduma Namba was scrapped. The rollout of Kenya’s new digital ID system will occur in three phases, starting with first-time ID applicants, those seeking duplicates, and replacements for lost IDs.
