NIRA to distribute 1.8 million unclaimed national IDs

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  The National Identification and Registration Authority-NIRA is set to distribute over 1.8 million national identification cards-IDs that haven’t been collected by their owners.

According to NIRA, some of the national identity cards have been with the authority since 2014. The nationwide issuance of the unclaimed identity cards is scheduled to start on November 23, 2020, and run until December 7, 2020. 

Gilbert Kadilo, the Public Relations and Corporate Affairs Manager at NIRA, says the exercise is aimed at helping the body reconcile it’s records.

Among those who will receive cards are learners who were registered during the 2017 mass school registration exercise. Kadilo says over 400,000 cards belong to people in this category.

According to Kadilo, all applicants who registered as learners will pick their IDs local council 1 offices. He says the learners will have to provide their National Identification Number and some form of identification from the schools where they were registered from before they receive the IDs.

Other recipients will pick their cards from sub-county offices. The ID distribution exercise comes ahead of the 2020/2021 general elections. Kadilo says the exercise is important since access to many services is attached to the cards.  Voters will be required to present a national ID before casting their vote.

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