The government has dismissed an article published by Al Jazeera on the controversial Huduma Namba as ‘poor journalism’ saying the story is based on ‘unverified information’.
Replying to a twitter user, State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita dismissed the article claiming that the author of the article Nanjala Nyabola did not engage the Interior Ministry to fill the ‘gaps’ in her story.
The article tittled If you are a Kenyan citizen, your private data is not safe, alleges that the government has entered into a partnership with global payment services firm MasterCard to link the Huduma Namba to a prepaid card with chip and pin that will be used by citizens to pay for a flurry of government services.
Nanjala Nyabola writes, “Critically, the invitation to apply comes with a threat: Anyone who does not register will be denied government services,”
She shares the opinion of many Kenyans that the government is blackmailing citizens to register themselves for the exercise.
Waita flatly rejected the author’s revelation saying that the writer confused Huduma Namba for Huduma Kenya while writing the artcle published on Wednesday.
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Replying to concerns that the government would abuse the Huduma Namba citizens’ data, Waita made light work of the jitters saying that a data protection bill is in the works and Kenyans need not be worried.
This is false information & a case of poor journalism by @AlJazeera they should simply ask @InteriorKE to clarify any gaps in information that they may have had.There is no MasterCard linked to the @hudumanambake they are confusing with payment option for @HudumaKenya services
— Nzioka Waita (@NziokaWaita) April 24, 2019
However the Al Jazeera reporter warns that the government could abuse the data.
“Kenya still does not have a data protection law. That means that this massive data collection exercise – including facial recognition, fingerprints and other key citizen data – will be in place in the absence of any real legal oversight,” reads the report.
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President Uhuru Kenyatta has defended the exercise saying that the Huduma Namba database will act as the ‘single source of truth.
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has also thrown his weight behind the project claiming that those opposed to the project are misleading the public.
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