Exiled firebrand lawyer Dr Miguna Miguna has lashed out at government’s threat to switch off mobile phone sim cards whose owners would not have registered for Huduma Namba by May 18, 2019.
Miguna Miguna says “Threatening to refuse to issue passports and switch off mobile phones of people who have not registered for the illegal Huduma Namba is proof that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s intention is to turn Kenya into a one-man authoritarian state where looters like Uhuru intend to tax even farting.”
The Communications Authority Director General Francis Wangusi put Kenyans on notice over the importance of the National Integrated Management Systems (NIIMS), saying there will be dire consequences if they don’t register.
Among the punitive measures, he said will be the inability to use one’s mobile phones, access to MPesa Service, Airtel Money, and ATM withdrawals.
Kenyans are required to register for the NIIMS within the next 45 days.
In what is likely to affect communication-network, voice, data, and financial transactions and take Kenyans by surprise, Wangusi confirmed in Kisumu that they are serious with the move.
He disclosed that once the exercise comes to end, they will liaise with the telephone service subscribers to help them de-activate all telephone numbers of defaulters.
”We are taking stock of registration and by the time the exercise ends, we shall ask the service providers to deactivate all numbers and register them afresh,” Wangusi said.
He told thousands of delegates attending the ICT week celebrations in Kisumu dubbed as Kikao Kikuu that the State will not renege on its resolve to promote the digital listing.
The exercise, he explained, was born out of good will considering the fast-growing technology revolution in the Country, but some Kenyans were taking it for a ride.