(Kennedy Mong'are Okong'o was the first Nyamira Senator. He is also the National Liberal Party leader)
The Huduma Namba registration exercise is one of the best things that have happened for Kenya in the recent past.
Kenyans will for the first time have well-documented data on who is who within the country. Therefore, Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i should heed to calls from different quarters to give an extension of the registration. He should listen to the call by different leaders and give an extension.
My call to the Interior CS is that in the capacity of a leader, I have been in support of this drive and so are many other leaders out there who have faith that the registration will usher in a new dawn for Kenya in terms of development.
Like many have said about the delayed processing of birth certificates and national identity cards; these are varied and genuine reasons which should warrant an extension not to mention that the slow pace of some ill-equipped clerks has also affected this noble initiative.
Just like the American social security number, the Huduma Namba initiative if well secured will put Kenya as the first African country to have such a database which helps the government do its demographic planning.
The takeaway from the success of this initiative will be putting an end to ghost workers in the government sector and infiltration of Kenya’s borders by unwanted elements. These two issues have been a thorn in the flesh not only for the Jubilee regime but also for the past regimes.
Manipulation of government records where ghost employees benefit from taxpayers money and terrorists benefit from security lapses that endanger Kenyan lives among other vagaries of human making will be a thing of the past once the Huduma drive takes shape.
Matiang’i, as a Kenyan with good intent for the country, should for once soften up, reconsider his stand and give an extension to allow all and sundry register for Huduma Namba.
#hivisasaoriginal #upekuzi