In Kenya, the idea of a national identity comes with a colonial history that involved exploitation and control. The kipande was an early, brutal instance of biometrics being used for oppression: an ID document, including fingerprints and work history, that British colonizers forced Kenyan men over 15 to wear around their necks in a metal case, to control and restrict their movements.
Despite those historical associations, a national digital ID that consolidates citizens’ personal data into a single source is both necessary and inevitable. So argues the country’s Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, Eliud Owalo, in a recent opinion piece for The Standard.