Tanzania working on legislative framework for infant ID registration

An Infant Registration Bill will be tabled for scrutiny during Tanzania’s next parliamentary session, set to begin on January 27.

The Director General of the National Identification Authority (NIDA), James Kaji, disclosed the information recently during a Staff Council meeting of the ID authority, The Citizen writes.

Kaji explained that the essence of the legislation is to set a template for early citizen registration. The text will outline details on how identity registration will happen for newborns.

He said the move is part of a government policy to strengthen the country’s identification system, make it possible for all citizens to be identified, and facilitate access to services for children especially in the domains of healthcare and education.

A NIDA official, Edson Guyai, spoke about the child ID registration initiative at the ID4Africa AGM last May, and mentioned a pilot which was to be conducted with the assistance of UNICEF.

According to the proposed bill, children will be registered at birth and assigned a unique identification number which will be used to issue them a national digital ID card when they reach 18 years of age.

Kaji said at the Staff Council meeting that the policy is intended to streamline citizen identification by eliminating some of the challenges the country now faces in identifying adults whose births were never registered early.

Over 300k national ID cards award collection

Meanwhile, in the course of the meeting, the NIDA boss also raised concerns over the reticence in withdrawing ID cards which have already been produced. He said more than 300,000 printed cards await collection in district offices across the country.

“I would like to take this opportunity to urge citizens to collect their identity cards from our district offices because the government has spent a lot of money to produce these identity cards,” Kaji said as quoted.

Other speakers also highlighted the need for NIDA to step up its awareness campaign efforts to emphasize the importance of the ID card and how it can help holders improve their daily lives.

Birth certificates in 48 hours

Tanzania also recently upgraded the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) system, making it possible to issue birth certificates within a period of 48 hours.

It is a move that aligns with the government’s efforts to modernize the civil registration system and improve governance, Daily News quotes Constitutional and Legal Affairs Minister Dr Juma Zuberi Homera as saying.

With the upgrade, users can apply for registration documents online, track, and receive them with almost no challenges using the eRITA platform.

Birth registration coverage in Tanzania reached 60 percent as of 2022, according to UNICEF, with the success attributed to progress in reforms by RITA, including the introduction of decentralized one-stop facilities which are operational in all of the country’s 26 mainland administrative regions.

Article Topics

Africa  |  birth registration  |  civil registration  |  digital ID  |  identity management  |  legislation  |  national ID  |  National Identification Authority (NIDA)  |  Tanzania