By Ashiraf Kanunu,
KAMPALA
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party demands parliamentary intervention in the issue of identity card replacement planned to take effect between August this year and June 2025.
Under Regulation 19(1) of the Registration of Persons Regulations, a National Identification Card is valid for 10 years from the date of issue and should be renewable in accordance with set regulations.
In a press conference held today at the FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi, John Kikonyogo, the FDC spokesperson suggested for amendments in the law proposing that ID expiration dates should be left open because one’s citizenship cannot expire.
“It’s so touching that the parliament of Uganda up to today has not taken keen interest on how this exercise is going to be done,” Kikonyogo said “We talked about it then, that I was wrong to give Ugandans identity cards with an expiry date.”
Government through the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) printed and issued the first batch of national IDs totalling over 15.8 million in 2014/15 and will expire between August 2024 and June 2025 (after 10yrs) which justifies the requirement for renewal.
According to the FDC, expiration of a national ID limits the privileges of some Ugandan Citizens in their own country hence calling for changes to remove expiry dates in the new IDs. FDC says the parliament has turned a deaf ear concerning this pressing issue.
This turns out to be a pressing issue as Kikonyogo also recites that issues which require possession of a valid national ID, for instance, the replacement of SIM cards and application or renewal of passports, may not be possible for some Ugandans by the end of this year incase the issue is not resolved in time.
“People take these things lightly, but you remember the case of the current minister of justice, Hon. Mao, who was denied chance to vote because he lacked a national ID during the 2021 elections,” he pointed out.
FDC further called on the government to stop issuance of Ugandan national IDs to alien residents alleging that this has increased crime rates in the country.
This comes at a time when NIRA announced it will issue national IDs with Alien Identification Numbers to all non-nationals in Uganda. Recently, the permanent secretary to the ministry of finance, Ramathan Ggoobi said the government had released Shs192b to kick-start the national IDs registration process.
