PS Kibicho defends Huduma Namba in court

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho has defended the creation of the national biometric register dubbed Huduma Namba by the government saying sufficient laws exists to protect the personal details obtained from misuse.

In his testimony before the high court, Kibicho was cross-examined over claims that the government intended to collect DNA information during the Huduma Number Registration.

Appearing at the high court as a witness in a case challenging the Huduma Namba registration, Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho was cross examined over concerns about individual’s right to privacy.

In his testimony Kibicho said information collected during the exercise is protected from unauthorized access.

Kibicho was further taken to task by lawyer Martha Karua to explain how the government spent Ksh6 billion to conduct a fresh registration exercise without enacting the data protection law

In the case before a three-judge bench of Justices Pauline Nyamweya, Weldon Korir and Mumbi Ngugi, the Nubian community and the Kenya Human Rights Commission are challenging the constitutionality of the national integrated identity management system NIIMS.

The petitioners want the court to declare the registration exercise unconstitutional or alternatively want the guarantees that the information collected by the government will be stored securely.

Elsewhere, a 52-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Busia court for allegedly defiling a two-year-old girl.

Principal Magistrate Samson Temu found Habert Ateri Wasike guilty of defiling the girl and hiding her in the bush on the night of 8th Jan 2018 in Malaba.

Finally, the appellate court in Kisumu will on 9th of this month make a decision on whether Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries Limited will be allowed to adduce additional evidence as they seek to challenge closure of the family over claims of environmental pollution.

Through lawyer Tom Ojienda, the company argued two critical reports were not considered by Environment and Land Court.

In July the court ordered the closure of three factories over environmental contamination as well as illegal and procedural acquisition of Environmental Impact Assessment licenses.