The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is continuing its global push to support government-backed digital ID programmes, this time setting its sights on Kenya, where it will advise the government on that country’s “Maisha Namba” digital ID initiative currently under development, Reclaim the Net reports.

According to the Kenyan Daily Post, Gates’ role in assisting the Kenyan government in its development and rollout of Maisha Namba was announced after a recent series of “closed-door meetings” with Kenyan President William Ruto.

“The billionaire, who is known to champion GMO [genetically modified organism] foods, has met Ruto in a series of meetings since he came to power with most of the engagements shrouded in secrecy,” the Kenyan Daily Post wrote.

“The deal will connect the government to key technical experts and partners who will offer professional advice to guarantee a smooth rollout,” according to Kenyans.co.ke.

Alexis Hancock, director of engineering for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The Defender that such secrecy between governments and private entities is common.

“Outside companies often pitch solutions to various governments that they can solve their problem with their product,” she said. “If governments are to implement this, the technology involved should be allowed scrutiny by the people first before anything is deployed, and delayed if it is not considered safe and equitable.”

According to Biometric Update, Maisha Namba is “expected to address different challenges such as identifying and authenticating citizens, safeguarding primary registration documents such as birth certificates and national identity cards and improving the management of social programmes and government operations.”

The identification number attached to Maisha Namba “will also be used to register for government services, including education, health insurance, tax and social security.”

But some experts said they believe the Maisha Namba programme has other, unannounced, aims. Dr Wahome Ngare, chairman of the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, told The Defender that Maisha Namba will operate as a vaccination tracking programme.

“Maisha Namba – Kiswahili for ‘Number for Life’ – is a biometric vaccination system for newborns that will replace birth certificates and help track children from birth to five years of age,” Ngare said. “It will be used to monitor and ensure all children receive their vaccines.”

Ngare said the Maisha Namba trial was conducted between February and March and is now being rolled out by the government, most likely as part of Universal Health Coverage.

He attributed Gates’ involvement with Maisha Namba to the involvement of entities such as Microsoft and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Gavi says it “helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases.” It was established in 1999, with the Gates Foundation as one of its co-founders and one of its four permanent board members.

Gavi maintains a core partnership with UNICEF, the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), which includes Gavi in its list of “relevant stakeholders.”

“On a deeper level and based on my understanding, Maisha Namba and the Maisha card are part of the larger international ID2020 initiative, sponsored by Gates through Gavi and Microsoft and their failed vaccine passport,” he said.

“For this reason, the full value and pain of the digital ID system will become known when the next pandemic is announced by the World Health Organization, especially if the International Health Regulations are adopted next year,” Ngare added.

Ngare was referring to amendments to the existing International Health Regulations, currently under negotiation by WHO members alongside a proposed “pandemic treaty.”

The ID2020 Alliance previously promoted the development of digital ID and vaccine passports. Microsoft is a founding member of the ID2020 Alliance, as are Gavi, the Gates Foundation, the World Bank, Accenture and the Rockefeller Foundation.

“If all goes according to plan, Bill Gates will not only inject billions of Africans with his mRNA vaccines,” Ngare said. “He has created a digital ID system for governments around the world to ensure nobody misses their vaccines and that those who refuse vaccination can be restricted from traveling or from accessing government services.”

Gates supported biometric digital ID initiatives around the world, including the first such programme, Aadhaar, launched in India in 2009. Aadhaar enrolled over 99 per cent of all Indian adults, linking them with many public and private services. The programme has generated controversy, which Gates has dismissed.

Other experts also expressed concerns similar to those of Ngare. California-based privacy attorney Greg Glaser told The Defender, “Vaccine passports were a test run for global biometric ID,” adding:

“Biometric ID is to future dystopian society as batteries are to your TV’s remote control. Without the batteries, the remote control does nothing. Without biometric ID, dystopian technology fails: social credit scores, central bank digital currencies [CBDCs], smart devices in the Internet of Things.

“All of these are rendered useless without the ability to integrate the masses into new technology systems through biometric identification.”

According to Glaser, there is a larger purpose to such efforts.

“Transhumanism is the endgame, and biometric ID is its Achilles heel,” Glaser said. “All of these things in our lives fundamentally depend on ID today: rights, citizenship status, affiliations, standing in court, accounts, privileges, services, land title and more. A person can hardly access any of the above without some form of ID, mostly meaning name but often numbers, which are increasingly linked to biometrics,” he said.

“Controlling people means controlling ID,” he added. “Even national governments are now wholly dependent on their organisational and corporate IDs.”

Similarly, Irene Polansky, a citizen who routinely participates in the National Call for Safe Technology hosted by Wired Broadband Inc and Virginians for Safe Technology, told The Defender that Covid-19 was “a beta (compliance) test for what’s to come,” and to be wary of the touted benefits of new technologies such as digital ID.

“Otherwise, we – and our children’s lives and bodily autonomies and innate rights – and our pieces of the planet, our properties and our civil rights and our wallets — our hard-earned monies and financial means — will be collectively and tyrannically coerced and devoured to our objection or surprise,” she said.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, told Business Daily Africa that his organization will connect the Kenyan government with technical experts and partners.

“Our role is always as an adviser. We can connect the government to key technical experts and partners, but we’re very encouraged by what we see and by the president’s commitment. We have a number of specific investment support on digital identity. We actually provide it to broader platforms,” he said.

According to Business Daily Africa, such assistance to the Kenyan government is part of what the Gates Foundation sees as “vast opportunities that can be unlocked through the existence of a digital identity in Kenya.”

“This is a huge priority of President Willam Ruto, and we think very appropriately so because a strong, robust, open-source digital identity system actually becomes a platform that not only leverages financial inclusion, where Kenya is already a global leader, but can be a platform that actually drives important advances in healthcare, in education and other services,” Suzman said.

But the Gates Foundation is not the only global actor involved in the rollout of Maisha Namba. According to Kenya’s Capital News, the Kenyan government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a memorandum of understanding in August to support the fledgling digital ID programme.

According to Reclaim the Net, “The plan envisages every newborn being assigned a Maisha Namba, which stays with them throughout their life.” Nyandarua County Deputy Commissioner Rukia Chitechi said, “The system shall be run through schools by ensuring every child born is assigned a Maisha Namba.”