Ugandans in the Diaspora given 7 days for national ID registration
Apr 23, 2015
If you are living abroad, the next seven days could determine how you live and travel as the extended deadline for the National ID registration exercise closes in.
By Samuel Sanya
If you are living abroad, the next seven days could determine how you live and travel as the extended deadline for the National ID registration exercise closes in.
Speaking at a meeting with the Uganda Bankers Association (UBA) at the Serena Hotel, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, the internal affairs minister that there will be no diaspora registration.
If they want to be registered, let them come here in the next ten days," Gen. Nyakairima said. "In this age of extremism, it is important that people can be identified," he added.
The deadline for National ID registration was extended to April 30th 2015 to enable the Electoral Commission to update the registers ahead of the 2016 national elections.
So far, 16 million people that are 16 years and older have registered and their records have been verified. One million more people are expected to register by the end of April.
Pamela Ankunda, the national ID project publicist says many Ugandan diaspora returned for the registration exercise over the winter break though she could not place an exact figure on Ugandans who returned for the exercise.
Registration for the national ID will reopen in July 2016 but only for Ugandans that are below 16 years. The national ID will be required to access an e-passport as the old passports are phased out in complainace with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations.
ICAO requires all countries to have machine readable e-passports by November 2015 in efforts to curb global terrorism.
The National ID will be used as the sole document to open a bank account, to access public services like education and health care.
In order to enforce the use of the national ID, the National Security Information System (NSIS) project which handles the National ID project will be transformed into an Authority with a board and management structure.
Hajj Abdul Nsubuga, the head of the national ID secretariat noted that 200,000 registrations have been rejected on grounds of citizenship issues and duplication and that 6 million cards are ready for distribution.
Of the cards that are ready for distribution, Wakiso has the most at 800,000 followed by Kampala at 500,000 cards. Cards for people in other districts will be distributed once all have been printed.
"In the future, every Ugandan will have a unique National Identification Number (NIN) at birth," Nsubuga said.
While Ghana charges their citizens $2 (about sh6,000) and Malaysia charges $2.8 (sh8,400) for a national ID, government is shouldering the cost for Ugandans to get their initial ID. Replacement cards will come at a cost.
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