ENDNOTES 1 United National Legal Identity Expert Group, “United Nations Strategy for Legal Identity for All,” June 2019, https://unstats.un.org/legal-identity-agenda/ documents/UN-Strategy-for-LIA.pdf. 2 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, “What Is Digital Identity, Digital Trade and Digital Economy for Africa?,” accessed May 25, 2021, https://www.uneca.org/ dite-africa/what-digital-identity-digital-trade-and-digitaleconomy-africa. 3 This definition has been derived from work including, Jennie Popay et al., “Understanding and Tackling Social Exclusion: Final Report to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health From the Social Exclusion Knowledge Network (SEKN),” February 2008, 36, http:// journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1744987110370529; Ruth Levitas et al., “The Multidimensional Analysis of Social Exclusion,” January 2007, 25, https://dera.ioe. ac.uk/6853/1/multidimensional.pdf. 4 Social inclusion is often invoked in policy language and is defined in opposition to social exclusion. Therefore, we understand social inclusion to mean having full access to the resources, rights, goods, and services normally available to members of society, and being able to participate fully across all aspects of political, economic, social, and cultural life. 5 Ndaga Muntu means identity card in Luganda. We use it to refer both to the physical ID card (NIC) and to the system itself. 6 Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, “Report of the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on the Inquiry into the Procurement of Equipment for the National Security Information System Project (NSIS)/the National ID Project,” May 10, 2012, 3–4. 7 The Report Company, “Interview with Aronda Nyakairima, Minister of Internal Affairs,” The Report, October 13, 2015, https://the-report.com/reports/ uganda/pearl-of-africa-shines/interview-with-hongeneral-aronda-nyakairima-minister-of-internal-affairs/. 8 Hansard Parliamentary Debates (Uganda), December 18, 2014, 37. 9 Organizations such as the World Bank, “ID4D Diagnostic Report: Uganda,” 2018, http://documents.worldbank.org/ curated/en/921761542144309171/pdf/132011-REVISEDPUBLIC-ID4D-Uganda-Diagnostic-12282018.pdf; UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa, “Review of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Innovations in Eastern and Southern Africa,” June 2020; Calum Handforth and Matthew Wilson, “Digital Identity Country Profile: Uganda,” GSMA, 2019, https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/ wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Digital-Identity-CountryReport-Uganda.pdf; Ken Okong’o, “Reimagining Identity Ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa with Mobile: The Case of Benin, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda,” GSMA, 2020, https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/ wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Reimagining-identityecosystems-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-with-mobile.pdf. 10 Concerns about the relationship between documentation, citizenship, and exclusion have plagued both digital and non-digital systems. For a discussion of this issue, see UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statelessness and Citizenship in the East African Community, September 2018, available at: https://www. refworld.org/docid/5bee966d4.html; Bronwen Manby, “‘Legal Identity for All’ and Statelessness: Opportunity and Threat at the Junction of Public and Private International Law.” Statelessness & Citizenship Review, 2020, 24. https:// papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3783310. 11 It is not clear whether those cards that have been officially issued have been received by individuals, since 78 Chased Away and Left to Die they are required to pick up their card from central distribution points. Issued cards might still be sitting at those pickup points. 12 Auditor General, “Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of the National Identification and Registration Authority for the Year Ended 30th June 2019,” December 21, 2019, 18. 13 Uganda Bureau of Statistics, “National Population Projections by Single Age and Sex (2015–2040),” April 2019. 14 Hon. Obiga Kania, Minister of State for Internal Affairs, “Statement to Parliament on Decentralisation of NIRA Services,” March 2020, 7, 14. 15 Uganda Bureau of Statistics, “National Population Projections by Single Age and Sex (2015–2040).” 16 We have based our analysis not only on the Statement to Parliament made by the Minister for Internal Affairs in March 2020, but also on figures available in, Auditor General, “Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of the National Identification and Registration Authority for the Year Ended 30th June 2019”; Auditor General, “A Value For Money Audit Report On The Identification And Registration Of Persons By The National Identification And Registration Authority (NIRA),” December 2018. A survey conducted by Makerere University in 2019 estimates that at the time of survey as many as 21.1% of the population did not have a Ndaga Muntu card. ResilientAfrica Network, Makerere University School of Public Health, “Understanding the Benefits, Costs, and Challenges of the National Identification System in Uganda,” December 2019, 7, https://www.ranlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ Understanding-the-Benefits-Costs-and-Challenges-ofthe-National-Identification-System-in-Uganda-1.pdf. 17 Rosemary Kisembo, “Acceptance Speech of the Executive Director” (National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), May 30, 2021), https:// www.nira.go.ug/about-nira/edz-message/acceptancespeech-of-the-executive-director. 18 The problem is especially acute in Uganda, where the ‘demographic dividend’ of a young population is expected to lead to a much larger share of the population being working age adults. 19 National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), “Fees,” accessed January 22, 2021, https://www. nira.go.ug/index.php/fees/. 20 World Bank, “Poverty & Equity Brief: Uganda,” April 2020, 1, https://databank.worldbank.org/data/ download/poverty/33EF03BB-9722-4AE2-ABC7AA2972D68AFE/Global_POVEQ_UGA.pdf. 21 Some names have been changed to protect the identity of individual people. 22 In the Ugandan context, ‘chased away’ means being sent away. Our research team witnessed and heard stories about women and older persons without Ndaga Muntu who were simply dismissed and sent away by health centre staff or other officials (‘chased away’). In that situation, a woman or an older person is treated as if they don’t exist. The person ‘chasing’ them often does not seem to feel obligated to explain the decision, other than to make it clear that without an NIC they are not welcome. 23 The annual report from DFID on the Expanding Social Protection Programme for 2018/19 confirms this level of exclusion by stating that up to 40% of people over 65 were not in the NIRA database compared to the Census data. UK Department for International Development, “Annual Review 19–20: Expanding Social Protection Programme Phase II (ESP II),” June 2020, 29.