Gays, Sex workers meet greatest disappointment ever from Kenyan government

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Do you that the proposed Huduma Namba is a big disappointment for gays and sex workers who have been viciously fighting against biometric registration?

For about three years local and foreign activists successfully fought off plans by the Ministry of Health to use biometrics in registering gays and sex workers in Kenya.

But now an amendment to the Registration of Persons Act legalizes the use of biometrics in the registration of all Kenyans.

It also allows the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) in the registration process thus enabling the tracking of an individual’s location via satellite.

The Ministry of Health and activists have been locked in a vicious dispute over a proposal to register sex workers and gays using biometrics.

The ministry had planned and even acquired expensive equipment in 2016 for a national census of gays, sex workers and related groups known as key populations.

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But following opposition from the Kenya Key Populations Consortium, the US last year prevailed upon the ministry to drop the use of biometrics and threatened to withhold funding.

Kenya Key Populations Consortium represents over 90 groups of gays, prostitutes, drug injectors and activists in Kenya.

The consortium argued that such data could be misused to track down their members by law enforcers since their activities are illegal in Kenya. It had also been argued that the requirement was illegal and discriminatory.

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The ministry on the other hand wanted a foolproof method of identifying individuals especially those participating in HIV programmes for proper planning and accountability.

The ministry had cited data falsification and multiple entries for collection of free HIV products, services and payments.

“Everyone just said no, and we kept saying no,” the consortium had celebrated after their win.But now the new legal amendment signed recently into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta makes biometrics mandatory in the issuance of new identity cards and other identification processes.

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The amended law allows the use of finger prints and other unique biological identifiers such as hand and earlobe geometry, retina and iris patterns, voice waves and DNA.

The law also gives the responsible Cabinet Secretary the powers to gazette other specific registration requirements where necessary.

On Tuesday President Kenyatta ordered all Kenyans be registered digitally and given Huduma identification numbers.

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The National Integrated Identity Management System, the President said will generate a unique identification number to be known as the Huduma Namba or Service Number.

“Why does the government want to know where you live, what you do, and with whom?” asks Dennis Nzioka a gay rights activist in Nairobi.

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