National ID: 13 million Ugandans registered.

By Pascal Kwesiga

About 13 million Ugandans have so far been registered for the national identity cards across the country.

The nationwide exercise which kicked in off April is slated to close on August 11 before the process of issuing identification cards to those who will have registered begins.

According to the public relations officer of the internal affairs ministry which is spearheading the exercise, a total of 12.9 million Ugandans have registered for the national identification cards so far.

“We expect the number to reach 13 million by Wednesday,” she added.

Ankunda said the exercise was “running smoothly” nationwide including in Bunyoro and Karamoja regions which were said to be trailing behind other regions recently in the national registration drive.

She explained that there was no communication to the ministry from government to extend the exercise after the deadline that falls on Monday.

“MPs said the deadline should be extended but we have not been informed that the deadline will be extended so far. The information we have is that the exercice closes on August 11,” Ankunda said.

The government is capturing the biometric data of all Ugandans aged 16 years and above in the first phase of the national identification registration exercise. Ugandans aged 16 years and below will be registered in the second phase.