Kenya’s digital registry drew comparisons to India’s giant biometric program, known as Aadhaar, whose sweeping powers were limited by the Indian Supreme Court in 2018.

Each person who registers is supposed to receive a unique identification number called Huduma Namba — or “service number” in Swahili. Officials said the number will be required to pay taxes, open bank accounts and get a drivers’ license, in addition to accessing health and schooling services.

Civil rights groups, however, said the program risked disenfranchising millions of people who already face systemic challenges getting the documents required to obtain biometric ID cards. To enroll, adults had to provide a national identity card, and birth certificates for those under 18.

For decades, racial, religious and ethnic minority groups like Nubians, Somalis and Kenyans of Indian origin have faced obstacles and delays when applying for government-issued papers. (Nubians were originally brought to Kenya from Sudan as soldiers by British colonial rulers more than a century ago.) Human rights advocates said many members of these communities were turned away from Huduma registration centers last spring.

The court, however, found that the government took the right steps to introduce the sweeping program, provided the public enough information, and did not coerce people to register.

Still, the program “was rushed” and introduced without proper legislation, said Justice Pauline Nyamweya, one of the judges on the panel.

The legislation was not published until July, after the mass registration exercise had ended — a move that Justice Nyamweya said was “contrary to principles of democratic governance and rule of law.”