By Rachel Amuge and Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) is set to launch a Mass National ID Enrollment and Renewal Exercise on May 27, 2025, aimed at renewing 15.8 million expiring National IDs and registering an additional 17.2 million Ugandans.
Speaking at the Uganda Media Centre, NIRA Executive Director Rosemary Kisembo noted that while the majority of IDs are due to expire in June 2025, while of many others have already lapsed, making the renewal exercise urgent.
Kisembo said the exercise targets over 17.2 million Ugandans registering for new IDs alongside the over 27.7 million Ugandans who are already in the NIRA register seeking for renewal of their IDs.
She highlighted the importance of the exercise for access to essential national services such as voting, healthcare, and financial systems, urging the public to present themselves at the nearest registration points with the required documentation.
The new National ID cards will feature enhanced security elements, including a Multi Laser Image (MLI) embedded within the polycarbonate material at the bottom of the card to prevent duplication and forgery.
“For those of you who photocopy and overlay this card, we shall now be able to know you. Even an ordinary person will see that the overlaid image does not match the one embedded in the Multi Laser Image,” Kisembo warned.
Additional features include a photo embedded within the national map, an iris image, and various encrypted text details designed to safeguard the cardholder’s identity.
Kisembo emphasised that local leaders, including LC 1 chairpersons, will mobilize communities, communicate mass enrollment schedules, and guide household registration for Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) beneficiaries and other vulnerable groups under specially designed programmes.
Mobile teams will be dispatched to hard-to-reach areas to ensure no one is left behind in this nationwide registration campaign.
