The High Court, on Friday, lifted an injunction which barred the government from rolling out the digital identifiers also known as Maisha Namba.
While lifting the orders, the court transferred the case from the Judicial Review Court where the petition had been filed to the Constitutional Division of the High Court.
This is after the Interior Ministry through its lawyers argued that the two court divisions were at risk of issuing conflicting judgements as they were handling different cases touching on the legality of the program.
The government lawyers also faulted the petitioners, Katiba Institute, stating that the non-governmental organisation did not disclose the existence of the second petition.
Maisha Namba was suspended last year, resulting in a backlog of ID applications countrywide.
In his ruling, Justice John Chigiti agreed with the petitioners, Katiba Institute, that a data protection impact assessment was not carried out before the rollout.
“Upon perusing the Application alongside the annexures therein, I find that the Application is not frivolous nor vexatious. It raises an arguable case that should be heard and determined on merit within the Fair Administrative Action Act framework,” the judgement read in part.
“Leave is hereby granted in terms of prayer 2 of the said Application. The leave shall operate as a stay in terms of prayer 3," the court added.
The non-governmental organisation also claimed that the Interior Ministry did not conduct adequate public participation before proceeding with the rollout.
Katiba Institute further accused the ministry of violating Section 31 of the Data Protection Act which requires that data protection impact assessments be carried out on projects that pose a high risk to the rights and freedoms of data subjects.
"They remain intent on building the Maisha Namba on the shaky foundation of data illegally collected and processed during the Huduma Namba exercise,” the petitioners told the court.
“They have used hastily developed regulations, adopted in violation of the Statutory Instruments Act, to contravene their Constitutional and statutory obligations," the activists lamented.
While commenting on the court ruling, Interior PS Julius Bitok welcomed the decision noting it was a reprieve to the over 600,000 Kenyans whose applications for new and duplicate ID cards could not be processed due to the Court order.
"We appreciate the support and patience that Kenyans have exhibited for the duration of the Order. We assure all persons with pending applications that we will expeditiously produce IDs on a first-in-first-out basis beginning immediately," the PS in charge of immigration stated.
