5M Ugandans renews national IDs, 100k new cards ready for pickup

Uganda’s National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has announced that more than 5.3 million people have already renewed their national IDs in a nationwide renewal and registration exercise that started on May 27.

The ID authority said while there was considerable progress with the exercise, the pace didn’t appear to be fast enough to meet set goals.

The campaign is officially set to run for a period of six months and is expected to touch 33 million persons comprising about 15.8 million ID car renewals and 17.2 million new ID registrations.

Speaking recently on the issue, a District Registrar in Kampala, Claire Ollama, praised the enthusiasm shown in the exercise but feared that it could go up to nine months if the average weekly renewals doesn’t exceed the current 840,000.

She said, as reported by Africa Press, that expediting the results means citizens must sit up and communities “must rally, parishes must mobilize, and individuals must show up early” because “every week matters and every ID counts.”

The registrar reiterated the importance of the exercise, urging parents to make sure their children are registered for a national ID because it sets the basis for the enjoyment of their full rights throughout their life journey.

NIRA had particularly emphasized the importance of having more students and youth to take part in the exercise just before it started.

Meanwhile, this week, NIRA’s Ollama also announced that 100,000 new biometric ID cards have already been printed and ready for collection. She however indicated that individuals must first receive an SMS notification before going for collection.

The ID renewal and registration campaign is part of the Ugandan government’s efforts to update the national population registry and modernise the ID management system in order to change how citizens and legal residents access public and private sector services.

One innovation with the new ID card system is the addition of the iris biometrics modality.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  national ID  |  National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA)  |  Uganda