The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) is taking fault and flak for its delay in mass enrollment for the National Identity Cards, citing technical glitches and protracted processes of recruitment of staff across the country.
The authority through officials told alleged that they have been burdened with the recruitment of human resources across the country as well as procurement of the machines that are supposed to be used in the process.
Ms Rose Kisembo, the executive director of NIRA said that, “We received the money but there is a process to do the work like getting the contractor and purchasing the machines. This kind of process can delay the main process (mass registration) but I think it should start by next month.”
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The Registration of Persons Act, 2015 (Act 4 of 2015) is the legal framework that governs the registration of persons in Uganda, including the issuance of national identification cards, and in June this year, over 15.8 million National IDs that were issued between 2014 and 2015 will expire putting Ugandans in a state of not being able to identify themselves as nationals.
Part IV, section 27 (1) of the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act stipulates that, “Every citizen of Uganda shall be registered as a citizen by the board and shall, upon registration, be allocated by the board a national identification number.”
The same law criminalises unregistered people, saying that, “Any person who fails without reasonable excuse-commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten currency points or imprisonment not exceeding three months or both.”
Officials at NIRA said that after receiving the money, they embarked on hiring the contractor which happened on July 8, 2024, procured the machines and then started the recruitment of the human resource.
She says, “So far we have trained 7,000 staff countrywide which will help in the process and then a public announcement on when the exercise will start.”
Initially designed with a 10-year validity period, these IDs were set to expire in 2024. To address this, the government amended the Registration of Persons Regulations in August 2024, extending the validity of all National IDs by an additional year, effectively making them valid for 11 years from their date of issuance.
She noted that as a country, they have no control over the requirements by other East African countries when it comes to travelling.
“An expired ID may not be acceptable in other countries but they should have a passport to avoid inconveniences.”
Challenged on the delays in getting financial services for people with expired IDs, Kisembo says, “We have had a precedent of printing 15.8million Cards in four months. We are still within time.”
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