[kictanet] [*Newsletter*] Re: Huduma Namba to replace KRA PIN in battle against tax cheats

[Benson Muite]

Happy New Year Listers!

The reports are useful. It would be nice if further countries are 
studied for example China and Japan which have much closer links between 
identity numbers for tax and social security purposes to the residence 
locations. These countries also have much stronger local information 
technology ecosystems for managing and securing their data. The KRA PIN 
is already linked to a business registration or personal ID number. A 
less bureaucratic and simpler tax collection system would likely be more 
effective to administer and easier to automate.

The privacy concerns are well stated, especially after the experience of 
India.

As there are pastoralists in Kenya who still enjoy privacy and limited 
taxation, some innovation and adaptation of the identity system is 
needed. This seems to have been poorly addressed by simply copying 
identity systems used in other parts of the world.

It is surprising that there is no collaboration in this area with other 
African countries as identity documents are useful for facilitating 
trade and travel for example as is done in the EU and Russia. 
Experiences from Rwanda ( significant digitization at relatively low 
cost ), Nigeria ( large diverse population that is identified ) and 
South Africa ( significant information linked to the identity ) are 
interesting.

Finally, the current COVID electronic vaccination certificate 
verification scheme also seems to serve as an identity verification 
exercise since the vaccination certificates have an identification 
number and can be looked up online. It is unclear if ip address logs are 
kept for lookups. It is also unclear if the data collected by the 
ministry of health will be linked to other data and and also for how 
long it will be kept.

On 12/23/21 11:04 AM, Michael Pedersen via KICTANet wrote:
> Hi Philip & Listers.
> 
> An update would be great - in particular I seem to remember that 
> KRA/iTax was supposed to be one of the early adopters of the PKI setup, 
> and I do remember seeing something about PKI on the itax login page some 
> years back but don't know if it's still active/working.
> 
> Also still trying to piece together a mental picture of the 
> historical/cronological development of digital id efforts throughout the 
> various Gov agencies - if anyone got "the big picture" then a brief 
> overview would be much appreciated.
> 
> Kind regards
> Micahel Pedersen
> 
> 
> On 22/12/2021 15:23, Philip Irode wrote:
>>
>> We  would be glad to update on the progress  so far made by the 
>> respective agencies working on this. This is ICT Authority ( Licensed 
>> Government Certification Authority (GovCA and Communication Authority 
>> ( Root CA).
>>
>> *From:*KICTANet 
>> <kictanet-bounces+philip.irode=icta.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke> *On 
>> Behalf Of *Michael Pedersen via KICTANet
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, 22 December 2021 14:26
>> *To:* philip.irode at icta.go.ke
>> *Cc:* Michael Pedersen <michael at uhasibu.co.ke>
>> *Subject:* [*Newsletter*] Re: [kictanet] Huduma Namba to replace KRA 
>> PIN in battle against tax cheats
>>
>> Hi Listers,
>>
>> I am a little late to this party ;-)
>>
>> Does anyone know what happened to the PKI effort championed by the 
>> ICT-Board back in 2013 ? (see: 
>> https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/companies/kenya-to-introduce-digital-signatures-for-online-services-2027870 
>> )
>> Just trying to gain some perspective. Is the "Huduma Namba" an evolved 
>> version of what was supposedly "ready in October 2013", or was the PKI 
>> abandoned and the Huduma Namba is a completely different thing....
>>
>> In short does anyone have a full historical perspective of how digital 
>> id efforts/attempts have evolved in Kenya over the years ?
>>
>> kind regards.
>> Michael Pedersen
>>
>> On 22/12/2021 13:19, David Indeje via KICTANet wrote:
>>
>>     Dear Listers,
>>
>>     Sometimes, one can sit down and think. When thinking, you ask
>>     yourself if the government can be defeated or not. Personally, I
>>     do not know the perfect answer.
>>
>>     I hope wherever you are, you are keeping safe and having the best
>>     of the last that 2021 can offer.
>>
>>     This week, you have read about the comeback of *Huduma Namba
>>     *(National Integrated Identity Management System). This
>>     is a  ‘single source of truth’ on a person’s identity.
>>
>>     A few months ago, the High Court struck down the Government of
>>     Kenya’s decision to roll out the issuance of Huduma Cards due to
>>     violations of the Data Protection Act, 2019. The state was told to
>>     conduct a data protection impact assessment
>>     <https://www.kictanet.or.ke/what-is-a-data-protection-impact-assessment/>
>>     before anything else takes place. (Kenyans were happy of course). 
>>     In response, the Government has come up with "Huduma Bill 2021"
>>     (attached) for those who need to read its contents.
>>
>>     For those who do not know, KiCTANET has been on the forefront to
>>     highlight the gaps and also offer what needs to be done to have
>>     progress especially when it comes to Huduma Number. Below are
>>     links to them:
>>
>>      1. /Huduma Namba - time to get it right
>>         <https://www.kictanet.or.ke/?mdocs-file=42680>/ By Mutindi
>>         Muema, Tevin Mwenda and Angela Minayo Edited by: Grace
>>         Githaiga. The aim of this policy brief is to address any
>>         issues related to registration, legal identity and the
>>         administration and use of digital IDs.
>>      2. /Digital Identification Law in Kenya
>>         <https://www.kictanet.or.ke/?mdocs-file=42671>: /The State of
>>         Play Author: Prof. Sylvia Kang’ara Edited by: Grace Githaiga
>>         and Victor Kapiyo. The brief makes a number of
>>         recommendations, chief among them being the need to take into
>>         account and ensure compliance with the directives of the High
>>         Court.
>>      3. This is a report/"Implementing Huduma Namba: Challenges and
>>         Prospects" <https://www.kictanet.or.ke/?mdocs-file=42661>.
>>         /The study found a variety of best practices on national
>>         digital identities from the United States of America, Estonia
>>         and India. Additionally, there are international standards on
>>         digital identity such as the World Economic Forum Emerging
>>         Best Practices which advocates for digital identity to be fit
>>         for purpose, inclusive, useful, secure and offer choice to
>>         registrants.
>>      4. Documentary /"Huduma Namba: Emerging Issues on Kenya's Future
>>         Digital ID System"
>>         <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crr60Y5UP_A&list=PLYSO7PoCyXHTwq-QvaWYbLLBAQY5_tyOS>/
>>
>>     NB- the links enable you to download the pdf version.
>>
>>     *Kind Regards,*
>>
>>     *David Indeje
>>     *_____________________________________
>>
>>     +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856
>>
>>     <https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-indeje/>
>>
>>
>>
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> 
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> KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
> 
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
> 
> KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
>