National IDs cards that have expired will continue to be valid for a minimum of one year after the government fell behind on the renewal timetable. Most national IDs have a 10-year validity period and were issued between 2014 and 2015.
To produce new national IDs, the government has been toying with contractors, and it now looks like a lot of Ugandans may be carrying around void identification documents by the time the contractors get to work. Gen. David Muhoozi, the State Minister for Internal Affairs, informed the Parliamentary Committee of Defense that the administration is running behind schedule in issuing the new IDs.
The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) announced last week that by August of the following year, at least 15.8 million IDs are anticipated to have expired. Besides, Minister Muhoozi announced in May that registration for the mass issuance of IDs to new citizens and the renewal process would begin on June 1 and continue until September 30, 2025.
However, the mass enrollment effort was delayed by one month. It has now seemingly entered an indefinite hold, with Rose Kisembo, executive director of NIRA, stating that the exercise was necessary to postpone because of unanticipated events.
“The mass enrollment and renewal exercise was set to start on June, 1, 2024 but due to unforeseen delays in the procurement process, the exercise didn’t take off. Nevertheless, by the end of July, 2024, the exercise will commence,” Kisembo said in June.
Meanwhile, the Internal Affairs Ministry later said in July that citizens whose national IDs had expired would still be able to use them to travel throughout East Africa, causing even another delay. The most significant aspect of the IDs, according to ministry spokesman Mr. Simon Mundeye, is the national identification number (NIN), which is perpetual on the cards.
The iris is only one of the improved characteristics that the new documents will contain according to the authorities.
