African governments may be considering creating a new digital identity for their citizens to keep abreast with the developments in the digital environment.
Speaking at the Africa Connect Summit on Tuesday, ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo made the argument that African governments needed to adopt a digital identity system that would authenticate the identities of citizens online.
According to Owalo the government is mulling issuing the ID that will enable the authorities to authenticate users online while conducting online transactions.
“We must have a virtual mechanism through which African governments can confirm the identity of each African, stated Owalo.”
Further, according to Owalo, most government services were already available online which was cited as a reason necessitating the need to authenticate the identity from the government's end.
He stated that rolling out the ID is in line with the best international practice adopted by developed countries such as; Estonia, India and Pakistan which have already rolled out the programme.
The CS noted that the rollout of digital identities would facilitate seamless online transactions which have the capacity to revolutionize how business is conducted in the continent.
In Estonia, the digital ID is a staple in every day life allowing citizens to transact and secure services both within the public and private spheres.
Estonians use their e-identities to pay bills, vote online, sign contracts, shop, access their health information, and access many other services.
The proposal has been fronted at a time when the country has also adopted a unified payments system, allowing the government to receive payments for all government services through one paybill — 222222.
Additionally, the government also rolled out the Maisha cards, which the government will issue to all citizens at birth, expected to serve citizens until death.
The citizens will allow citizens access to various government services.
