The government through Kenya Revenue Authority is luring the Parliament to amend the Huduma Namba Bill to give it access to data to bring tax cheats to book. KRA wants the amendments to include access to data that is beyond confiscation of legal information like passport and national identity cards.
The government is resorting to access the data against the High Court ruling that declared the roll out of Huduma Namba illegal after the State spent more than Sh10 billion for being in conflict with Data Protection Act.
Justice Jairus Ngaah in his ruling explained that the government should have conducted impact assessment before rolling out the Huduma Cards as he ordered the government to conduct the assessment before the roll out, to create safeguards to protect Kenyans’ data since cards have already been rolled out.
Katiba Institute, a lobby group led by law scholar Yash Pal Ghai had sued the State arguing that it was wrong to roll out the Huduma cards, before conducting a data protection impact assessment.
Prof Ghai argued that the assessment would identify the risks such as breaches to privacy, loss of data, while some Kenyans might be locked from the roll-out because they lack identity cards.
Huduma Namba has been surrounded by controversies and in 2020 the government was forced to come out and dismiss claims that the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) is being manned by foreigners.
The government was reacting to allegations by Deputy President William Ruto’s allies that the second Huduma Namba registration was a plot to rig the coming August 2022 elections using the system which they claimed had been placed under a foreign company for manipulation.
But the State in its defense purported that NIIMS was conceptualized as an integrated database to capture the biometric data and other information of all Kenyans and foreign nationals living in the country; upon registration onto the system, one would then be given the Huduma Namba to enable them access government services.
The current regime that is struggling with huge foreign debts believes the move to access the illegal date will enable them nab Kenyans who are above eighteen years of age but not paying tax. They argue that holders of Huduma Nambard ID will automatically be listed as tax payers and be required to pay tax the moment they attain the age of 18.
The government is targeting tax cheats by requiring that the unconstitutional Huduma Namba be used to serve the same purpose as KRA’s Personal Identification Number (PIN).
Money laundry has been thriving due to laxity of the government to deal with tax cheats and legal loop holes and has in turn resulted into increased tax evasion cases in Kenya. The data from the taxman shows that only 5.5 million filed return in the year to June out of the 25.6 million Kenyans who have attained the age of 18.
The parliament has also proposed amendments to the biometric identification scheme to replace KRA PIN in attempts net tax cheats. But the current parliament has been accused of working for the executive. It functions as a conveyer belt on top passing punitive laws.
It’s a tax obligation for everyone with PIN to file tax returns irrespective of their income status and minors who have enrolled into Huduma Namba will by default become registered tax payers when they clock 18 years.
The controversial Bill also requires that upon enrollment then one should be issued with a certificate of birth containing Huhuma Namba.
Adults will also be forced to use it access government services marrying, getting treated from government hospitals and filing tax returns.
