Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris has opened up about her change of heart with regards to the concluded Huduma Namba registration exercise.
Despite her initial remarks that she would not avail herself for the digital registration, the opposition lawmaker took part in the exercise last week.
However, she ruled out coercion as the reason behind her U-turn, rubbishing claims that opposition leader Raila Odinga who has been in full support of the initiative pushed her to register.
"Raila hakunipigia eti nikajisajili, hakuna mtu anaweza nivuruga mimi (Raila never called me to convince me to register, no one can coerce me)," she said on Radio Maisha's Bunge La Maisha show on Monday morning.
The lawmaker added that she was opposed to the government's attempts to impose the registration on Kenyans, and was protesting its decision to set a deadline despite the court ruling against the same.
Passaris noted that she had a change of heart following President Uhuru Kenyatta's one week extension of the exercise, after being convinced that Uhuru indeed means well for Kenyans.
"Walipoweka deadline na mahakama ilikataa nikaona sitakubali na hata nikasafiri lakini walipoextend nikaona rais wetu anaheshimu mahakama na nikaenda nikachukua namba yangu (I was protesting the State's decision to set a deadline despite a contrary court ruling and I even travelled out of the country. However, the extension was to me an indication that the president respects the court's decision, so I decided to proceed and register)," she added.
The government has said that the number will make it easy for Kenyans to get quick services in public offices by merging state-issued documents into a single unit.