Huduma Namba Not Linked to MasterCard, State House Says
State House has refuted reports claiming that the Huduma Namba card is linked to the US multinational financial services company, MasterCard.
State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita has dismissed the reports as false, stating that there is no link between Huduma Namba card and the global payments firm.
Waita was responding to a recent article published by international media, Al Jazeera.
The article claimed that there is an agreement between the Kenyan government and MasterCard to link the Huduma Namba to a prepaid card bearing a chip and pin that will be used by Kenyans to pay for an array of government services.
“This is false information and a case of poor journalism by @Al Jazeera, they should simply ask @InteriorKE to clarify any gaps in information that they may have had. There is no MasterCard linked to the @hudumanambake they are confusing with payment option for @HudumaKenya services,” Waita says in a tweet.
In the article headlined; "If you are a Kenyan citizen, your private data is not safe," writer Nanjala Nyabola termed the Huduma Namba as “yet another assault on data privacy in Kenya.”
“Further digging reveals the government has done a deal with MasterCard to link the Huduma number to a prepaid card with chip and pin that will be used by citizens to pay for an array of government services. The government denies that the two initiatives are connected, but given similar initiatives in countries like Nigeria, there is credible fear that the initiatives will eventually be combined,” claims Nyabola.
She adds: “As it stands, if you are Kenyan, your data is not secure or safe, especially not from a government that has routinely avoided creating a legal framework to at least give citizens some form of recourse when violations happen. This Huduma number is an ill-timed, ill-advised initiative that should be suspended until further public participation and consultation occur.”
Registration for Huduma Namba is currently ongoing countrywide and is expected to conclude on May 19th.
Kenyans in the diaspora will be registered in respective Kenyan embassies and consulates for 45 days beginning May 5th.