Thousands of national identity cards are still lying uncollected in Kayunga District despite the ongoing distribution exercise being conducted by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA).
According to Muhammad Mpiima, the District Registration Officer, about 65 percent of processed national IDs have not yet been picked up by their owners, even though NIRA says it has completed nearly 90 percent of the issuance process.
Mpiima said the low turnout is slowing down the exercise and affecting access to essential public services, as many residents without identification continue to face challenges in accessing government and private sector services.
“We still have a big challenge of people not collecting their IDs. About 65 percent are still lying at collection centres despite NIRA completing close to 90 percent of the issuance process,” Mpiima said.
He noted that while communities have continued to request for doorstep or parish-level distribution, the authority currently lacks the capacity to implement such a model effectively.
“People want us to extend services to parish level, but as an authority we do not yet have enough capacity and manpower to effectively reach every parish,” he added.
The issuance exercise is currently being conducted at the National Identification Registration Authority office along the Kayunga–Kampala road, as well as at eight sub-county collection points across the district.
Residents have attributed the low uptake to long distances to collection centres and transport costs, which they say discourage many from picking up their cards.
Mpiima urged residents who have received notifications that their national IDs are ready to collect them at their designated centres at their convenience, emphasizing that the documents remain critical for accessing a wide range of services.