Uganda to issue alien ID cards with new enrollment software

The Executive Director of the National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA), Rosemary Kisembo, says the enrollment of aliens living in the country for an ID card will happen when the country tolls out a new digital ID system in the weeks ahead.

Kisembo disclosed this information as she answered questions this month related to NIRA in the Auditor General’s report for the 2022/2023 financial year. She was speaking in front of the parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) alongside some of her close collaborators.

Uganda has not registered aliens lawfully living in the country for the past six years, despite the Registration of Persons Act 2015 stating that this category of persons should be enrolled and issued alien identification cards. This situation may have partly contributed to foreigners unduly obtaining Ugandan biometric national ID cards.

As reported by Parliament Watch, Kisembo justified delays in registering legal foreign residents in the country, saying the “Alien Register was not included when the NIRA system was initially developed.”

“The software only focused on citizens and adult registration,” she said as quoted, before adding: “In 2019, after the expiration of the service provider’s contract, we acquired a new one but still didn’t obtain the intellectual property rights.”

The conflict Kisembo refers to is a disagreement with Muhlbauer over alleged vendor lock-in on a facility for printing national ID cards. The new contract is with a public-private partnership between Veridos and the Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC).

The parliamentary committee members observed that the non-issuance of biometric ID cards to aliens has not only made it difficult for them to get access to services requiring identity authentication, it has also led to a massive drop in non-tax revenue expected from NIRA in the course of the 2022/2023 fiscal year.

The delays notwithstanding, Kisembo says there is some hope now as the software to register foreign legal residents “has been incorporated into the new system we hope to acquire by the end of this month.” She added that it is an open-source system that will be tailored to meet the ID needs of the country. Uganda is among countries in the rollout phase of a MOSIP-based national ID system.

During the parliamentary committee hearing, Kisembo announced that the national ID enrollment and renewal exercises, which had been planned to take place this month, were moved to a later date. She also explained why the country is adding the iris biometric modality to its new generation ID card.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  identity document  |  Mühlbauer  |  national ID  |  National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA)  |  Uganda  |  Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC)  |  Veridos