BREAKING NEWS: High Court Declares Huduma Namba Roll out Illegal
The High Court has declared the Huduma Namba rollout unconstitutional on grounds of being in conflict with the Data Protection Act, 2019.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
Section 31 of the Data Protection Act requires data processing to be preceded by a data protection impact assessment to assess any data processing risks so that they can be mitigated.
Delivering the verdict, Justice Jairus Ngaah observed that the assessment was not done before rolling out the Huduma Namba.
The court, however, noted that a plea that sought to have the Huduma Namba rollout stopped is of no use since the government has already rolled out the issuance of the cards.
The government was thus directed to create safeguards to protect Kenyans’ data.
In this case, Katiba Institute moved to court to stop the rollout of the cards by the State, arguing that there is no data protection impact assessment as per Section 31 of the Data Protection Act, 2019.
They argued that by rolling out the Huduma number the respondents flouted the judgment of the court issued early last year.
“The Data Protection Act rights to privacy were guaranteed the moment the constitution was promulgated …,” they argued
The government however objected to the case saying that the Act does not apply in the case before the court.
