President William Ruto.

President William Ruto today announced Kenyans will be issued digital identities in the next three months.

Kenya is transitioning from the National Integrated Identity Management System, generally known as Huduma Namba (service number), launched in 2019.

The president today made a bold commitment to expedite the project. The project was expected to go live next year.

“In the next 90 days, we must have a Digital ID. Huduma Number was a complete fraud because we lost almost 15 billion shillings and got very little out of it. We can have a Digital ID without spending 15 billion and without defrauding the people of Kenya. Those who did that should be ashamed of themselves,” Ruto is quoted by Citizen TV.

The rolling out of digital identities comes as ramps up efforts to grow the ICT sector to increase productivity and competitiveness.

The largest economy in East Africa recently presented its budget for the 2023/2024 financial year, allocating $109.6 million (KES 15.1 billion) to fund initiatives in the ICT sector.

The financial backing supports the growth and development of the growing ICT sector.

Kenya has been stepping up efforts to make the East African economic powerhouse an ICT innovation hub to unlock the digital economy potential.

The country has robust measures to ensure the growth of the digital economy.

These include the national ICT policy, the Kenya Start-Up Act, Data Protection Act, the Digital Economy blueprint and the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes.

Kenya is also developing the Konza Technopolis project, a large technology hub planned to be built 64 km south of Nairobi. The government is marketing the project as the pillar of its development plan, Kenya Vision 2030.