In a major boost for the government’s digital identity initiative, the High Court lifted an injunction on printing Digital IDs (Maisha Namba). This allows the program to move forward. Justice John Chigiti has also ordered that the case be transferred to constitutional division of the High court. It had initially been filed at the Judicial Review Court..
In December, the High Court of Kenya had issued an order barring the registration and issuance of the new digital IDs. The suspension comes after Katiba Institute filed an application seeking the launch to be halted. In its application, the institute cites the lack of a strong legal framework for adopting the new digital IDs. In addition, Katiba Institute argued that the government did not conduct sufficient public participation before commencing the pilot Phase. The Civil organisation’s petition will continue to be heard even as the Digital ID rollout is permitted.
The launch of the Maisha Namba program was set to commence last year. The Friday court decision opens the way for the government issuing third-generation IDs. Since last year October, Kenyans who have applied for an ID replacement or first time applicants have had trouble getting an ID.
A statement from the government read “The High Court decision is a welcome reprieve to the over 600,000 Kenyans whose applications for new and duplicate ID cards could not be processed to fruition in adherence to the Court order.”.
