Contribution Of Huduma Namba To The Big Four Agenda

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s development blueprint, The Big 4 Agenda, comprises of Food Security; Affordable Housing; Manufacturing and Affordable Healthcare.

The Government’s move to establish a National Master Database through Huduma Namba addresses the constitutional requirement on access to public information. At the same time, it fulfils the Big 4 Agenda through creation of a national persons’ identification database that will be a reference point for other national development initiatives.

Various stakeholders who are charged with the delivery of the Big 4 targets will use the established national frame as a stepping stone so that they only capture specific technical field; such as agriculture, education and health without duplication of biometric data capture. The end users will refer to the Huduma Namba database to inform planning for the Big 4 Agenda initiatives and other development programmes.

Further, Huduma Namba seeks to build and securely avail ‘Big Data’ to all industry players on ‘need to know basis’ in pursuit of achievement of Food Security, Affordable Housing, Manufacturing and Affordable Healthcare. As articulated in the Big 4 Agenda. There will be continuous update and integration of primary registration data of all citizens’ births, deaths and foreign nationals’ resident in Kenya for efficiency in the provision of services and enhancement of national security.

Food Security

The Government targets to achieve 100% national food and nutrition security through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation. In execution of this mandate, the Ministry needs a national database of farming households and subsequently all farmers in the country. Achieving national food security will be largely informed by a comprehensive register of all farmers in Kenya. The Huduma Namba database will provide biometric data of farmers which will be a reference point for further registration of other fields while avoiding duplication of bio data capture. This will enhance efficiency in the use of public resources.

Affordable Healthcare

Huduma Namba data will assist in planning for achievement of universal healthcare through provision of background information needed for registration for provision of universal healthcare services under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).The same information will be easily accessible for use by relevant stakeholders in the health sector. Accurate patient identification is necessary in order to administer proper diagnosis and treatment. Further, Huduma Namba will provide data that will avert fraud or manipulation for access of services.

Affordable Housing

Huduma Namba will capture biometric data on number of households and number of family members. This will from the background information for assessment of status of housing in the country. The information will be an authentic source of civil data which is important for planning purposes in the delivery of the Affordable Housing targets.

Manufacturing

Huduma Namba will generate biodata on persons’ employment status and main occupation. Persons engaged in production of raw materials are critical in providing the same for development of cottage industries which create employment. To attract investors in the Manufacturing sector and spur growth in the labour market, updated data on persons is needed for planning purposes.