As Uganda gears towards the next general elections, it is likely that National IDs will be the key identification mechanism for eligibility to vote. However, a recent registration statistics update from the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) indicates that there is still a large section of Ugandans missing out on the cards.
The numbers show that the Authority has received a total of 27.7 million applications for the National ID, of which close to 24 million have been processed up to the point of allocation of NINs. The processed cards include those of both adults and children below 16 years.
To the effect, NIRA has printed 17.6 million National IDs for the 19.9 million Ugandans over the age of 16 a representation of 88.8% of the population that are required to hold an ID. This means that at least 2.2 million people meant to get national IDs are yet to get them – either because their applications are under process or they are yet to be registered.
#NIRAStatsToday: This represents 88.8% of the country's population entitled to hold National IDs. Leaving about 2.2 million persons in that bracket whose applications are under process, or are yet to be registered.
— NIRA (@NIRA_Ug) May 25, 2019
Read About: How to recover a lost National Identification card
NIRA at the start of the year announced an exercise to rectify errors and all complaints on national IDs, which would go on for three months at sub county level. It is in the same period that further registration for those who did not get national IDs resumed.
With the exercise now done, the body is embarking on the process of clearing all the pending ID applications especially the lot including students who were registered in 2017, and are yet to get their cards delivered.
