Kenyan court halts biometric registration

Kenya’s High Court has halted the implementation of a new biometric registration system until data protection laws are enacted.

The court also declared the collection of GPS and DNA data unconstitutional.

The Kenya government had been collecting sensitive personal data, including fingerprints, family details and even location details in the mandatory exercise.

All the sensitive data would be available at the click of a button.

The government insisted the registration was mandatory, saying citizens would not be eligible to receive government services including passports and birth certificates unless they took part..

But the high court found that the collection of all this private data was putting Kenyans at risk of suffering irreversible damage if the information was misused.

So the three-judge panel ordered a halt to the implementation of the project – known as Huduma Namba - until comprehensive data protection laws have been enacted.

The court also ruled that the collection of DNA and using GPS to record the precise location of people's homes was unconstitutional.

The Nubian community had tried to get the entire ID system scrapped on the grounds that it discriminated against marginalised groups.

To register, one needs a national ID - which the stateless Nubians have reported extreme difficulties in obtaining.

However the court dismissed the petition.