The government has set aside Ksh. 1 billion for Kenyans to use as Unique Personal Identifiers (UPIs).

According to Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, the UPI will be provided to all citizens upon birth.

It will be used as the official identifier throughout all phases of education, for tax payments through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), and as the death certificate number upon death.

"We are carrying out the president's directive to implement a digital ID within 90 days." Everyone born in Kenya will now receive a new number known as the Maisha Number. It will be the birth certificate number, which will be used as an ID number for work and the KRA PIN," Bitok explained.


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Bitok stated after meeting with the National Digital Identity Technical Committee that Kenyans who reach the age of 18 will be presented with a card known as the Maisha Card.

He defined the rollout as transitioning from the existing generation of IDs to digitally accessible identification.

"This represents a transition from second-generation to third-generation IDs." "It will be available digitally so that those who do not want to carry the physical copy can have a digital copy on their phones," stated the PS.

President William Ruto is expected to launch the UPI on September 29.