National ID project 80% complete - Gov't

By John Masaba

As the country gears up for next year's general elections, government says the issuance of the national identity card —a key requirement for one to vote — is 80% complete.

Paul Bukenya, a spokesperson of National Security Information System (NSIS), a mult-sectoral government department that spearheaded ID registration under the internal affair ministry, told the New Vision that out of the 112 districts, only 37 districts are yet to be covered.

The IDs are required to minimize cases of voter malpractices by eliminating the possibility of multiple voting.

They can also be used to fast-track identification, say of accident victims or suspects, through quicker DNA examination and also to curtail crime.  

 "We set ourselves a target of September this year and so far we are on track to beat that deadline," said Bukenya, who is also the EC spokesperson.

So for, he said, 16.2 million people of the 35 million Ugandans have registered for national ID and will be eligible to vote.

However, a survey by the New Vision established there is sizeable number of Ugandans who registered but might not be allowed to vote as EC has failed to issue them with IDs.

Chris Kitamirike, a resident of Luzira, a Kampala suburb told the New Vision that although he was one of the first people to register for the ID when the process officially started last year, attempts to get the ID has been in vain.

"When I went to receive my ID at Kitintale police post where I registered, my card was missing. I was advised check all the nearby centres but was not successful either," he said.

Others people said they had returned their ID because they had errors, but had by press time not got their IDs. 

Bukenya, however, said mechanisms have been put in place to ensure everybody who registered get their ID before the country goes to polls early next year.

The adoption of the national ID was legalized by Parliament in February following the passing of the Registration of Person's bill, 2014.

Among other requirements, the law gave EC powers to use data from the National Identification register to update the voters' register.

The law also paved way for the establishment of the National Registration and Identification Authority. 

Mandatory nationwide identification systems have been implemented in a number of countries including Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Peru, and Spain.

While these schemes vary by country, individuals are typically assigned an ID number, which is used for a broad range of identification purposes.

Large amounts of personal data such as name, birth date, place of birth, gender, eye color, height, current address, photograph, and other information is linked to this ID number and stored in a centralized database.

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