Police clearance targeted in 24 hours as DCI launches MBIS biometrics
Key points
- New MBIS platform targets 24-hour police clearance certificates (from 14+ days).
- Record capacity: 2 million to 10 million fingerprints; daily searches 4,500 to 20,000.
- Planned presence in all 52 Huduma Centres; replaces the 2016 APFIS stack.
- DCI forensics unit received ANAB accreditation; future links to NRB, courts, Immigration and INTERPOL flagged.
Job seekers and contractors who have queued for a certificate of good conduct were given a new SLA: 24 hours. Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, launching the Multi-Biometric Identification System at DCI HQ, said processing that once stretched past two weeks should now finish in a day, Eastleigh Voice reported.
Engineers put the scale jump at fingerprints stored: 2 million → 10 million; daily search volume: 4,500 → 20,000. The software succeeds APFIS (2016) and is scheduled for every Huduma Centre (52). Parallel news: DCI’s evidence-management lab earned ANAB accreditation — IG Douglas Kanja and Director Amin Mohamed called it a justice-system seal, not a police trophy alone.
Wiring the state identity stack
Murkomen said MBIS is built for later hooks into registration, courts, borders and INTERPOL once laws allow. He also previewed citywide IC4 command tools with AI faces and denser CCTV in six urban nodes including Nairobi and Mombasa. Faster certificates are a service win; always-on multi-agency identity sharing needs retention limits and audit logs or civil-liberties fights will follow.
Huduma managers should post public boards: applications in vs certificates out inside 24 hours. Without those numbers, the launch is a promise, not a product. Security-tech coverage continues on the crime desk.
Parliament ought to debate data-sharing statutes before the hooks go live. Citizens should still keep paper receipts until the 24-hour claim is boringly true for three consecutive months.
Independent monitors should sample outcomes for 60 days and publish a short scorecard so citizens can compare promise versus delivery without waiting for the next campaign season.
Job applicants should time-stamp submissions at Huduma desks for 21 days and share anonymised wait times with civil society trackers so the 24-hour pledge can be audited outside ministry PowerPoints.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of the MBIS launch at DCI HQ. Service times may vary by centre; confirm at Huduma/DCI channels.
