A fresh attempt to revive Kenya’s stalled national addressing system has been made through a new Bill that proposes the creation of a dedicated public body to oversee the digital naming and numbering of streets, buildings, and homes across the country.

The draft law, introduced by Kiambu MP John Machua, aims to establish a National Addressing Council that will spearhead the implementation of addressing standards, support digital mapping, and promote innovations that drive e-commerce.

This move comes as a major boost to government efforts that began nearly two decades ago but failed to take off.

Under the proposed law, the council will be responsible for coordinating all national addressing activities, ensuring uniformity, and integrating new technologies that enhance service delivery.

The Bill outlines a structure where each county will form its own addressing committee to work closely with the national council and share relevant data.

The council will comprise a non-executive chairperson appointed by the President, a vice-chairperson nominated by the Council of Governors, and principal secretaries responsible for national addressing, finance, and lands and physical planning.

Other members will include the chairperson of the Kenya Consumers Protection Advisory Committee, two individuals from the private sector selected by the ICT Cabinet Secretary based on their experience in addressing, planning, ICT, or legal affairs, and a registrar who will serve as the secretary to the council.

According to the Bill, “The enactment of the proposed legislation will ensure seamless naming and numbering of streets and properties, which will lead to improved identification and location of places, which will subsequently improve the country’s economy in terms of trade and revenue generation.”

Each appointed member will serve for a renewable term of three years, limited to a maximum of two terms.

The proposed National Addressing System (NAS), first introduced in 2008, is expected to digitally mark and index all roads, streets, and both residential and commercial properties.

The system is intended to support faster and more accurate deliveries, especially for courier firms such as the Postal Corporation of Kenya and online retailers, by integrating digitised maps.

Between 2008 and 2010, the government set up an inter-ministerial task force that ran a pilot of the project in Nairobi. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), which holds the mandate to develop communication-related numbering and addressing standards, began drafting the NAS framework in 2016.

At that time, the Universal Postal Union, which offered technical support, reported that the CA would need around 28 million dollars (equivalent to Sh3.6 billion at today’s rates) to successfully implement the system.