Mass renewal of national IDs to start in 2023, exercise to cost shs 430bn

The State Minister for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi has told the Parliament that the mass renewal and enrollment exercise for National Identity Cards will commence in 2023.

Muhoozi made the revelation on Wednesday while responding to the question raised by Hon. Ethel Naluyima concerning the impending expiry of the current National IDs.

It’s worth noting that the first batch of National IDs totaling to 15.8 million were printed and issued in 2014/2015 and will expire between August 2024 and June 2025 which justifies the requirement for renewal.

Muhoozi told Members of Parliament that the mass renewal exercise is in the pipeline. He said this will begin in 2023 in a rotational manner.

“Renewal will happen at each parish in a rotational manner with NIRA deploying 10 registration kits per parish per day. The exercise will happen over a 12-month period beginning August 2023. After this period, these services will be operationalized and delivered at district level,” Muhoozi told Parliament.

According to the minister, the nationwide exercise will cost approximately Shs 430 billion.

Muhoozi further confirmed to the house that Ugandans will not be charged any coin while renewing their national IDs once the renewal process starts.

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.