Thread by @MarigaThoithi

Short Thread.

I'm curious about Kenya's Integrated population registration system(IPRS)system which is theoretically "a one stop shop for all the population data-the single source of truth for population of all Kenyan and foreign resident in Kenya" according to @ImmigrationDept

I needed an ID replacement a few weeks back and that went as smoothly and I had my new ID within two weeks. The problem came up when I needed to register for something using the ID. Many orgs eg banks verify your ID with the govt through direct access to the IPRS system

The IPRS system should theoretically allow for fraud detection/ fake ID detection.

When I was opening an account, they checked the IPRS system and my ID didn't appear, though it had been issued to me two weeks earlier. I was sent to Huduma Centre

I was bounced around at Huduma Centre then eventually sent to Nyayo House. Two floors and four offices later, I found an IT guy. He was a nice, friendly guy and he told me to leave my ID number and serial number and it would be updated by the next day

So I also saw the names of other people who had left their ID numbers and serial numbers there so they could be updated into the system. I was confused. I had a legally issued ID but it wasn't updated in the system? On what basis did they issue the IDs

The gentleman at Huduma who finally sent me to Nyayo House, told me that the system updates after about 2 years!

So I asked two guys at Nyayo House and they told me that it might take a year or two or even four years to update.

I was curious and asked to see what ID of mine was in the system, it was my 2015 ID. I had lost that one then got a replacement to that one which I had lost to get this one. Basically the ID I had had before that wasn't even in the system.

They updated the IPRS system on a need-basis meaning that if you need it updated and you find your way there, then they will do it.

How is this an automatic system?

I remember the hype created around this being the "single source of truth"as the #hudumanumba is being touted

The IT guy had time and manually updated my ID into the IPRS system as I watched and so first he had to update the two IDs before that and then archive them.

That brought tons of questions to mind. This is the Nyayo House system which should integrate everything.- passports, IDs, national security etc and they're relying on manual updates?

Someone created and sold the government a system that needs to be manually updated for all national citizen data?

This sounds like a scandal that was never reported.

The IPRS system contains all data including photos and national ID details so all that would possibly be needed is to transfer the data from one to the other so I am really curious about the real reason that the government wants the #hudumanumba

These are the objectives of the IPRS system as per the @ImmigrationDept website and all data at Huduma Centres automatically goes to this system. They have all national registration data.

The system as per my interaction though is elementary at best. Play school coding.

Lol also you know that your files for getting a passport are grouped according to your family? Physical files in folders. If you went to get yours and your brother went a week later, his will be delayed because it's literally one file. They also move women's files after marriage

The IPRS system was a Jubilee flagship project in 2015 which was supposed to do what they're purporting that the #hudumanumba would do, just without needing citizens to do anything. They would collate the data they already had.

president.go.ke/2015/03/11/int…

The IPRS system is connected to and sources data from NSSF, KRA and NHIF, Civil Registration Department, National Registration Bureau, Immigration Department and Department of Refugees’ Affairs.

So the government needs to explain where all this data is.