The High Court has Lifted the injunction that previously prevented the government from implementing digital identifiers, commonly known as Maisha Namba.
As part of this decision, the court has transferred the case from the Judicial Review Court, where the initial petition was filed, to the Constitutional Division of the High Court.
The decision to transfer the case was influenced by concerns raised by the Interior Ministry, which argued that having two separate court divisions dealing with similar issues could lead to conflicting decisions.
The Ministry emphasized the risk of inconsistency in rulings since two petitions had been filed, albeit in different divisions, addressing the same matters.
Lawyers representing Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki criticized the Katiba Institute, the non-governmental organization that filed a petition against the rollout. They pointed out that the organization failed to disclose the existence of another petition in a different division to the court.
On December 5, the High Court suspended the rollout of the Digital Identifiers. In his ruling, Justice John Chigiti agreed with the petitioners, Katiba Institute, that a data protection impact assessment was not done.