BiometricsDigital birth card to help Kenya fight terrorist infiltration
The influx of immigrants from neighboring African states includes Islamic militants, some belonging to terrorist group al-Shabaab. Maintaining proper records of every Kenyan and immigrant will offer authorities leads on who is in the country and potentially a threat to national security. Some suggests the adoption of a Digital Birth Card (DBC) as a way to curb Kenya’s terrorism fears.
Robert Malanya, a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), is proposing the adoption of a Digital Birth Card (DBC) as a way to curb Kenya’s terrorism fears. The influx of immigrants from neighboring African states includes Islamic militants, some belonging to terrorist group al-Shabaab. Maintaining proper records of every Kenyan and immigrant will offer authorities leads on who is in the country and potentially a threat to national security.
“Our biggest problem is that due to a poor record management system, our government and security forces do not have the records of everyone in the country. My innovation — the Digital Birth Card — will rectify this,” says twenty-two-year-old Malanya.
According to Standard Media, DBCs are readable with a barcode scanner and store information backed on a server accessible to county and federal government agencies. Malanya insists that all children born in Kenya should receive the card before their parents receive a printed birth certificate. “The information is counter-checked by approved people and it is from this information that a birth certificate is printed automatically and sent to the child’s parents. The card reader machines can be installed in any government establishment and with a swipe of the card, all information related to the child appears whenever needed.”
Hospital and education records would be accessible on DBCs and holders of the cards could be notified by authorized agencies when due for vital immunizations or college entrance exams. Even notification of expired identification cards and passports could be sent via mobile text message to residents who have DBCs. The DBC system has been tested on residents of Homa Bay County and among students at JKUAT; and participants consider it reliable and an effective way to streamline management of records.
“With this technology, the government has control of who is in the country and can tell who is here illegally because their birth cannot be tracked digitally. It also saves people the inconvenience of queuing for IDs,” says Malanya.
