The government is set to roll out a new generation of identity cards in a mass registration process that will cost Ksh3 Billion.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru on Thursday outlined that the process would begin before the end of 2018 and the new IDs will enable the government to determine the location of any individual via satellite.
The CS added that biometric details of individuals will also be collected by a newly acquired National Integrated Identity Management System.
Mucheru explained that the system will collect personal attributes such as fingerprints, hand and earlobe geometry, retina and iris patterns and voice waves.
[caption caption="An IEBC official uses biometrics to identify a voter during the 2017 General Election"]
[/caption]
The collected biometric details will then be stored in both a digital database and in physical form.
"The registration process will start this year. It will be conducted by the Interior Ministry and will start at the sub-location level.
"One of the initiatives is registering all the 45 million Kenyans biometrically so that everyone will have a single and unique identity.
"Today you have your ID which is given by the National Registration Bureau, the driving licence, passport and others," CS Mucheru outlined.
Mucheru explained that the government aims at having personal identifiers from when a Kenyan citizen is born.
"We want to make sure that from cradle one has a unique ID and is able to access all government services since one can be identified," he noted.
[caption caption="ICT CS Joe Mucheru speaks during a past meeting with the Senate ICT Committee"]
[/caption]
