Uganda: Gen Muhoozi Announces 1 Year Extension for Expiring ID Cards

15 August 2024
The Independent (Kampala)

Kampala, Uganda — With about 15.8 million Ugandan National IDs set to expire between August 2024 to December 2025, Government has decided to extend the validity of all these cards by one year.

Gen David Muhoozi, Minister of State for Internal Affairs told Parliament's Committee of Defense today that the body responsible for registrations and IDs National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) faced delays in issuing new IDs, thus the decision to change the expiry dates. NIRA is also required to delivery of data to Electoral Commission by 30th November 2024, that will be used as the national voters' register ahead of the 2026 general elections,

He explained that the earlier planned June 2024 scheduled mass enrollment exercise faced delays occasioned by the due diligence that had to be conducted on the company that was meant to deliver the national security system. That system was meant to be used in the exercise, but the contract was only finally signed on 8th July 2024.

"Because we need time in between to ensure that business continues and people aren't disrupted, that anxiety you alluded to and we have done so by extension of one year plus or minus so that we ensure that people don't get upset by what they do," Muhoozi told the committee.

NIRA has previously explained that because several features on the IDs expire mainly because of wear and tear, including changes in facial features, to ensure they have up to date data on users of the IDs, they have to be renewed before they cannot be read by their systems.

The pic below is depiction of facial changes that an individual might get over time, and yet NIRA is expected have an update National Identification Register. Even without an expiry on the card, the material used becomes (unrecognizable) unreadable after 10 years. https://t.co/0WQ0dj9P0u pic.twitter.com/tHSRU30f7J

-- Peter Okwalinga Jr. (@Oquals) August 15, 2024

He explained that the extension would be done through a Statutory Instrument Amendment No.2, Regulations 2024 already published in the gazette on 12th August 2024. "... So the IDs that were due to expire within that period will be extended by one year. This should sort the anxiety that was starting in the public regarding on, what do we do, between now and when we get the new IDs? ," said Muhoozi.

Minister Muhoozi informed the Committee that unregistered citizens are recorded as 17.2million, while the cards expiring by January 2025 are 3.7million and the cards expiring beginning August 2024 to 31st December 2025 are 15.8million.

Read the original article on Independent (Kampala).

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