It's the same in Belgium, France and I'd bet it's the same in any other European Union countries.
The quote is from a longer paragraph about the use of ID card. We use ID card for that too in the EU as a proxy for identification verification. The author seems to imply is bad per se. Hence my remark.
We also have laws and activists to fight governments willing to associate those IDs with DNA, iris record, health, etc.
But those data have nothing to do with your legal existence and your ability to prove it.
FTR: I hope Kenyans will find a way to resist their government's move to associate such data with their ID.
(The decision that people can't "vote, purchase property, access higher education, obtain employment, access credit, or public health, among other fundamental rights" without ID is a political one, it's not necessarily intrinsically required)