The government has extended the validity of about 15.8 Million National IDs that were set to expire between August, 2024 to December, 2025 for one year in order to allow the continuity of business within Uganda.
The revelation was made by David Muhoozi, Minister of State for Internal Affairs while appearing before Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee, where he had appeared to provide an update on the mass enrollment and renewal and registration of the new National IDs planned by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA).
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 December 31, 2025 are 15.8 million.
NIRA is also required to deliver data to Electoral Commission by November 30, 2024, that will be used as the national voters’ register ahead of the 2026 general elections, but the 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 was meant to be used in the exercise, but the contract was finally signed on July 8, 2024.
Wilson Kajwengye (Nyabushozi County) asked NIRA to explain how it will ensure that the exercise isn’t delayed by the numerous closure of business whenever there are ceremonies taking place at Kololo Independence Grounds, which also hold the headquarters for the Authority.
“You reported to us that NIRA lost 30 working days by occupying Kololo. When you have these tight deadlines, when you don’t even miss a single hour for you to deliver, we would like you to allay fears of the nation that continued occupancy of Kololo ceremonial Grounds and subsequent ceremonies as they come, will not affect delivery of timeline,” said Kajwengye.
Joel Ssebikaali (Ntwetwe County) wondered if Ugandans with expired IDs will be in position to enter East African Nations that allow Ugandans without valid National IDs entry.
He remarked, “If you say you are continuing with the IDs that are expired in Uganda, you are using the law of Uganda internally, how about outside Uganda because we are obliged to observe international treaties, and once my ID is expired, can I go to Rwanda, can I go to Kenya using the ID that is expired?”
Christine Kaaya (Kiboga DWR) decried the poor planning and execution of public projects within Government, saying this has led public agencies to normalizing the practice of extending deadlines for activities they fail to implement on time.
“We are concerned about the extension of expired issues in Uganda. LCI, LCII, Women Councils are expired but we are moving on, now IDs. There are even some leaders who have expired, although they continue to be in service,” said Kaaya.
Last month, Internal Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Simon Mundeyi explained that Ugandans can still use the National IDs whether expired or not to East African countries, with whom Uganda has a tripartite agreement.
“Some of these countries like Kenya and Rwanda specifically we have a tripartite agreement to allow the citizens of these countries to travel to each other’s country using the National ID. There has been confusion recently especially for those who are carrying expired National IDs,” Mundeyi said.
Mundeyi added that Ugandans can still process passports or open bank accounts using their expired national IDs.
