By Mariam Nassiwa
Ideally, it should be an easy ride replacing a lost ID. First off, the national identification and registration authority gets all your data when applying for first one. So they have it stored somewhere.
One would then imagine they just have to prove lose with a Police letter and in a week or so, get a replacement.
Not in Uganda.
“We come here very early in the morning fill endless forms for every step of the procedure and then you end up being sent back to the district after all that struggle it is painful,” said a lady in a long, winding queue.
Brenda, not real name, has been coming to Kololo Airstrip for months. When I joined her at the queue and shared my frustrations with the process, I realized it was not only me going through the same.
The long queues. The slow attendants with their slow machines and their I don’t care attitude. You have to early bird. Better to be there by 5:30am to 7:30am. You arrive past that and you are told, “come back tomorrow”.
Long-suffering individuals have to keep trekking to the Nira Centre in Kololo, Kampala where at the very least, one can hope to have their query addressed within a month or they are sent back an exercise that involves trips in and out of offices for months.
Unlike in Kenya where it takes not more than 10 days to get a national ID replaced, it has so far taken me three months of back and forth visits at the Nira offices. The other day, I was told to check within three months. That checking does not guarantee that I will be issued with an ID. It could be to inform of a missing detail… and then I could have to wait for a few more months.
Speaking to Eagle Online, the spokesperson of national identification and registration authorities Gilbert Kadilo said that the registration process taking quite some time is due to the time experience Uganda has spent in this process.
“Other countries have been in the registration process for a number of years and their working conditions have been improved so it is not a good thing to compare these countries with Uganda which has just entered the system,” said Kadilo when contacted.
He also went ahead and said that as the number of people acquiring IDs is growing day by day, they are working on the improvement of the system to reduce on the long time taken to get an ID.
To make matters worse, all other forms of identification, including the passport have now been rendered useless in most official transactions; one has to possess their national ID to get any kind of service.
Mark you, the hustle notwithstanding, the ID has ten year lifeline. So it is most likely to be a fresh struggle every ten years.
“I think the authorities need to rethink this expiry date thing. It is unnecessary. In countries like South Africa, your ID is for life, which is why it is also called the life book. Makes more sense,” said David (not real name) at Nira Centre in Kololo.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the lead Ministry in the implementation and issuance of the National Identity Card project, has commenced public awareness campaign.
In 2013 Government halted the issuance of national Identity Cards amid reports of inter-agency fights over management of the multi-billion shilling project.
Ministry of Internal Affairs employees, who were giving out the IDs in Kampala since July 15, had no explanation about government’s decision to halt the process. They were simply ordered to halt the distribution and return the remaining ID batchs to the headquarters.
Speaking to the lady at UBA bank names (withheld) at Kololo Airstrip she said that even as per now Ugandans are paying an amount of 50,000shs for replacement of their lost cards.
“If your card is lost you come to us and pay shs50, 000 we give you a form after filling it you are required to join the waiting line,” she said.
Early this year, Uganda Communications Commission ordered all telecom operators to deny connection to subscribers who have no updated their customer information using their national IDs.