Government to Launch Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) for Newborns

The government through the State Department of Immigration and E-citizen, is set to issue Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) to newborns at birth.

In essence the UPI will be the birth certificate number, the Identity Card number and will also serve as death certificate number.

UPI can also be adopted as the official reference for a host of other services that currently demand separate identities.

The government intends to use the UPI as the school’s admission number as well as the index number for national examinations.

Further, UPI will serve as the registration number for National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the Driving License Number.

UPI will be issued across the country to newborns who merit Kenyan citizenship. It will also be adopted for children born outside the country to Kenyan citizens and who are eligible for Kenyan citizenship.

The government says the move will help in effective digitization of official records which will in turn help in smooth and effective service delivery.

In addition, multiple registrations of citizens will be eliminated as well as advancing equality and fairness in access to services.

Through a statement, it said issuance of this pin will be offer more accurate and credible data which will give the exact number of the population.

To support this, it stated official records reveal that 86.2 per cent of all births were captured in the country in 2021 therefore making the birth registration stage is an attractive genesis for foundation data.

Further, this could be an important means of bridging the current documentation deficit and enhancing the accuracy of official mortality records.

In 2021 for instance, only 55.4 per cent of deaths were reported. Besides inflating population figures, they could abet identity theft crimes and manipulation of numbers in elections and other contests.

This move comes at a time when the government want to collapse various state agencies that are currently engaged in separate registrations can then be collapsed to free personnel, finances and other scarce resources for other needs.