President Uhuru Kenyatta, on Tuesday, revealed that the National Integrated Identity Management System NIIMS (Huduma Namba) exercise was piloted in the police force where they discovered 158 fake DCI officers.
Speaking at the Masii Public Grounds in Machakos County, Uhuru revealed that those opposing the system knew that it had exposed ghost officers in the police unit and were keen to prevent it from exposing more in other sectors.
"I know there are people who are opposing the Huduma Namba registration and I know it is because of what we found when we tested it with the police force.
"In the National Police Service (NPS), we found that 1,447 people were getting paid but not working. 158 were from the DCI unit. In total we found 5,000 ghost officers," he stated.
He noted that the exercise had revealed loopholes used by unscrupulous people to get salaries without actually working adding that in just a month, the government had saved Ksh148 million payable to the ghost workers.
"This discovery will save us Ksh1.8 billion in a year that could have been used to build roads," he added.
The NIIMS database will contain information of all Kenyan citizens and foreign nationals residing in Kenya. It will serve as a reference point for ease of service delivery to the people of Kenya.
Earlier on Monday, a High Court ruled that the mandatory Huduma Namba registration decree by the government was no longer compulsory.
During the highly anticipated ruling, the court also suspended the deadline date that had been initially set by the government.
In addition, the 3-judge bench ruled that the collection of DNA and GPS coordinates was suspended from the exercise.
"The State is prohibited from including DNA in the biometrics," the court ruled.
