Nearly 3,000 biometric kits shipped to Uganda ahead of mass ID enrollment

The National Registration and Identification Authority of Uganda (NIRA) has already received nearly 3,000 biometric enrollment kits as the country prepares to launch a mass national ID registration and renewal exercise in the first quarter of this year.

According to media reports in the country, NIRA has received 2,700 kits as of January 7.

The first arrival happened on December 28 when 1,700 kits were flown in through the Entebbe International Airport, while 1,000 other kits came in on January 7. A further 997 kits were expected to have arrived in the country on January 12.

In total, the country expects to receive 5,665 biometric enrollment kits for the ID registration exercise whose commencement suffered a number of deferrals last year.

Last July, NIRA sealed a deal with UAE-based IT company Tahaluf for the implementation of the national ID project. Among other things, the company is supplying new data center equipment, new enrollment kits and related software.

Kits arrival delays

Going by NIRA’s initial plans, as detailed in a press statement issued last October, all 5,665 kits were supposed to have been delivered by January 12. But authorities have acknowledged there are delays.

At the reception of the first 1,000 kits on December 28, Gen Apollo Kasiita-Gowa, Director of Citizenship and Immigration Control in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said the remaining number of the kits will arrive in the country between January 7 and 15.

“We are excited today to receive the first batch of 1,000 kits. The total number of kits expected in the country is 5,665. The remainder of the kits is expected between 7th and 15th of January this year. We are sorry about the delay which was caused by supply chain bottlenecks arising especially from the festive season,” he said in a video posted by NTV Uganda.

Independent reports that the kits have arrived in the country just when the ID authority has started to train enrollment personnel and other technical staff who’ll be deployed to the field for the exercise.

A report by another outlet Rite TV indicates that NIRA officials have also begun inspection and verification of the kits which have already been made available. This is part of the process to ready the devices for field deployment in the next few weeks.

Over 17M new registrations expected

Authorities expect that the mass registration exercise will enroll an estimated 17.2 million people as first-time ID holders, while the renewal drive aims to serve around 15.8 million ID holders whose ID cards were issued in 2014 and 2015. These cards will expire by June this year.

The exercise is part of Uganda’s digital transformation push which aims to build a more inclusive and streamlined national ID system that will facilitate access to services for millions of citizens.

Apart from the new ID system built to run on an open-source software, it will also have iris biometrics include into it as an alternative for over a million citizens who can’t provide fingerprints.

The Ugandan police has pledged its commitment to supporting NIRA in the mass ID registration when the exercise is kicks off in March.

In the days ahead, NIRA says it will ensure the installation and configuration of two additional printing machines, each with a daily capacity of printing 80,500 ID cards.

Article Topics

biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA)  |  Tahaluf  |  Uganda