New High-Tech National IDs Roll Out, NIRA Clarifies Process for Old Cards
KAMPALA – The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has officially begun the rollout of new, high-tech National IDs and has clarified the procedure for handling the old cards, assuring Ugandans they will not be confiscated.
NIRA’s Registrar, Ms. Claire Olama, announced the start of the collection process, urging citizens to pick up their new cards. She emphasized that the old National IDs remain important personal documents and will be needed to verify identity during the exchange.
“What we for long prayed for, what we registered and hoped to get, was our new, beautiful, new-tech cards. Now it’s time to begin to pick them up,” Olama stated.
Explaining the collection process, Olama said, “When you come, you need your old card to identify you. We look at it, we check if you’re the one, and once we find that your card is ready, we ask you to provide your biometric—your fingerprints or your iris—so that we complete the process and issue your new National ID.”
Instead of taking the old cards away, NIRA officers will administratively invalidate them by placing a single punch mark on a blank corner that does not contain any data.
“This old card remains your document, and you will still take it home,” Olama clarified. “However, the NIRA officer must put an administrative mark… Make sure the officer does not punch your barcode because we need your old card for posterity. It must remain readable.”
The punch serves to indicate that the card has expired and its document number is no longer active, without compromising the card’s readability. After the process, citizens will leave the collection centre with both their new, unmarked card and their old, invalidated one.
Olama urged the public to maintain order and patience at the designated collection centres nationwide.
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