The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has announced that the upcoming mass enrollment and renewal of national identity cards will predominantly take place at the parish level.
Starting May 27, 2025, millions of Ugandans will be able to either register for their first national ID or renew expired cards in an exercise that will run from Monday through Saturday.
NIRA has emphasized that this operation will be deeply rooted in local communities.
“The parish (Muluka) will be the heart of operations during the mass enrollment and renewal exercise. Registration will occur at each of the 10,594 parishes in a rotational, comb-and-clean approach. There will be a minimum of 10 kits at each parish on a day of registration. A parish may have fewer kits in unique circumstances,” said NIRA Executive Director Rosemary Kisembo on Wednesday.
The process will involve significant participation from local authorities, including LC1 chairpersons, defense secretaries, and council members. They will collaborate with parish chiefs, Parish Internal Security Officers (PISOs), and Gombolola Internal Security Officers (GISOs) to facilitate citizen registration.
This mass exercise comes at a critical time, with more than 15.8 million national ID cards set to expire by June 2025. Additionally, it aims to register approximately 17.2 million Ugandans who currently do not possess a national ID.
While the majority of services will be available at the parish level, NIRA has clarified that changes to particulars on ID cards will only be handled at district offices.
“Change of particulars shall only happen at the district offices of NIRA. It shall not be conducted at the parish level. The reason for this is that it has some quite intense legal requirements that may not be easy for a new person who is just dealing with a kit to have and hold in their head,” Kisembo explained.
She added that there are nine types of changes to particulars, each with distinct legal requirements, which will be managed exclusively by NIRA staff at district-level offices.
