Govt proposes new ID fees

The government is seeking to introduce express fees for unregistered citizens who want to acquire National Identity Cards (IDs) and those renewing old ones in the imminent mass enrolment of unregistered citizens, the Monitor has learnt.

In an exercise estimated to cost Shs600b, the government has opened a window for express first time enrolment and renewal, where IDs will be processed in two days at a cost of Shs50,000. The proposal is, however, subject to Parliament’s approval.

For those who can’t afford, Internal Affairs minister Kahinda Otafiire said: “The ID  card is free.. it was free, is free and it will remain free. But since you are rich and you want your ID Card express, you will pay Shs50,000.  If you do not want express, you just get an ID card like anybody else. Those peasants will have their IDs renewed for free”.

 The government has also hiked fees for replacement and change of ID particulars to Shs200,000, up from Shs50,000.

According to documents presented by Gen Otafiire before the Parliamentary Defence and Internal Affairs committee yesterday, IDs will be processed urgently.

“[We propose to] institute an express enrolment fee for persons who can afford to pay for service delivery within two days,” said the minister, who led a team of National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira) officials to update the committee on the pending exercise.

The current IDs, issued in 2014, with a lifespan of 10 years, are due to expire, with the enrolment exercise for new IDs scheduled to run from June 2023 to August 2024.

No time limit has been provided for the “normal” first time and renewal issuance that will be free of charge, and this got legislators concerned about the inequality.

Since issuance of the first batch of IDs in 2014, Ugandans have complained about the slow process.

MPs say

Ruhinda County MP Donozio Kahinda expressed fears that the express window will cause the system to prioritise express applications.

He suggested that it should be introduced after mass enrolment. 

Ms Margaret Lwamaka, the Chua East County legislator, asked for a uniform process.

 “What is the role of government to all the people of Uganda who pay tax?” She asked.

Gen Otafiire, however, defended the new development, saying it will facilitate those in urgent need of the document as well as increase revenue for the government.

“The same fees changes will affect those who seek to change particulars on the IDs due to inaccuracies originating from the applicant or holder of the card. Inaccuracies originated by the Nira staff will be corrected free of charge,” the Nira Head of Operations, Brig Gen Stephen Kwiringira, said.

The origin of the error is proved based on the application form that is scanned into the Nira system.

 Lt Gen Joseph Musanyufu, the Internal Affairs Permanent Secretary, said government is targeting to raise Shs160b from the proposed fees.

The mass enrolment exercise is expected to cost Shs600b, and will be raised through a supplementary budget since the funds were not allocated in the current budget, according to Nira.

When asked to justify the hikes, Gen Otafiire said: “If you think it is too much, then don’t lose your ID. The best way to avoid [paying] that Shs200, 000 is to avoid losing your ID.”

The legislators, led by the Committee chair, Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro, expressed concern that the hikes and express window will lock out citizens who are financially incapacitated.

Ms Nyakikongoro asked government to review the proposal.

“I think they [government] are thinking out of reality. As a committee, we think that the Shs200,000 is a lot that the majority of Ugandans cannot afford to pay,” Ms Nyakikongoro said.

The Butiru County lawmaker, Mr Godfrey Wakooli, said all taxpayers are entitled to free services for vital documents such as the National ID.

“I don’t know where the planners of this money are coming from because there is no justification of increasing from Shs50,000 to Shs200,000,” Mr Wakooli said.

He said: “If you introduce such, you are now going to create a fertile ground for more bribes and corruption for the officers implementing this exercise. This shouldn’t, therefore, surface anymore because we have already seen at the passport offices where most officers are largely skewed towards getting money as opposed to serving Ugandans.”

The Buwekula South legislator, Mr William Ndooli Museveni, said the government should instead focus on ironing out the glitches in process of attaining a National ID.

“You find that even the process of replacing the IDs, is not one where someone can process [an ID] in a day but instead people walk for months and in that process, they lose a lot of money,” Mr Ndooli said.

Mr Abdallah Kiwanuka, the Mukono North MP, tasked government to consider producing IDs that do not expire.

Responding to this, Gen Otafiire said the global technological advancements, to which the country must adapt, have necessitated the phasing out of the current ID.

While the individual National Identification Numbers (NINs) will not change, the new IDs are expected to have new features, including the possibility of capturing DNA.

Both the minister and Nira remained non-committal on whether the ambitious DNA capture will be realised.

“We are going to do DNA. Whether we have the means and the capacity now or not, that is immaterial. The desired end state is that we should capture DNA,” Gen Otafiire said.

Mr Kiwanuka also raised questions on the use of the data collected to surveil citizens to which Gen Otafire responded: “What is wrong with that, let us leave that to security. Do not commit crime and we shall not follow you.”

The process

The enrolment will be done at the parish level across all the 10,594 parishes.

lEach parish will have two staff, and each sub-county one supervisor who will work seven days.

lPersons enrolling for the ID for the first time shall have their citizenship verified by a Citizen Verification Committee comprising Local Council, ISO and police.

lRenewal of IDs will see holders repeat the process of capturing fingerprints, facial recognition and IRIS.

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