article?id=26277:-aronda-revives-debate-on-army-rolein-politics. 160 This was also a controversial choice, see, “MPs Reject Kwiringira as ID Deal Boss,” Daily Monitor, November 17, 2013, https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/ national/mps-reject-kwiringira-as-id-deal-boss-1558656. Kwiringira was until recently the Acting Executive Director of NIRA. 161 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/. 162 Hansard Parliamentary Debate (Uganda), March 11, 2020, para. 3.25 (“You will recall that that mass registration was essentially done for elections.”) 163 Hansard Parliamentary Debate (Uganda), April 9, 2014, 8. 164 Muehlbauer, “Weltrekord Bei Regierungslösungen,” September 26, 2019, https://www.muehlbauer.de/ company/press/press-releases/2019/world-record-ingovernment-solutions/. 165 Hansard Parliamentary Debate (Uganda), April 16, 2014, 11. 166 Hansard Parliamentary Debate (Uganda), December 18, 2014, 37. 167 Registration of Persons Act, 2015, Section 9 (Board of the Authority). 168 Registration of Persons Act, 2015, Section 54 (Compulsory Registration). (“The following persons shall register with the Authority—citizens of Uganda resident in or outside Uganda; subject to this Act, alien residents issued with a permit, certificate or pass under the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act.”) 169 Registration of Persons Act, 2015, Section 66 (Mandatory use of national identification cards) (“(1) A ministry, department or agency of government or any other institution providing a public service shall require a person accessing the service to produce a national identification number or national identification card or alien’s number or alien’s identification card.”) The listed MDAs include pension or social security transactions. 170 Registration of Persons Act, 2015, Section 54 (Compulsory Registration). 171 The other major piece of CRVS, marriages and divorces, remain the responsibility of URSB. 172 “Documentary and oral identification techniques continue to coexist with biometric registration, though on complex terms—overlapping, sometimes conflicting and competing, and often complementing one another… Lastly, the current biometric boom invites us to examine, in comparison, the deployment of bureaucracy that is being played down on the altar of the new digital deities. These findings are not just specialists splitting hairs; they have direct implications for ways of thinking about citizenship in action, in countries subjected to the new imperium of new and willingly depoliticizing technologies.” Dalberto and Banégas, Identification and Citizenship in Africa, 14–15. 173 Bamuturaki Musinguzi, “Maragoli Minority Group to Be Recognised Soon.” 174 Uganda Bureau of Statistics, “National Population Projections by Single Age and Sex (2015–2040).” 175 ResilientAfrica Network, Makerere University School of Public Health, “Understanding the Benefits, Costs, and Challenges of the National Identification System in Uganda,” 7. 176 Hansard Parliamentary Debate (Uganda), 25 February 2020. 177 It is not clear whether those cards that have been officially issued have been received by individuals, since they are required to pick up their card from central distribution points. Issued cards might still be sitting at those pickup points. 178 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. 179 Uganda Bureau of Statistics, “National Population Projections by Single Age and Sex (2015–2040),” April 2019. 180 Hon. Obiga Kania, Minister of State for Internal Affairs, “Statement to Parliament on Decentralisation of NIRA Services,” March 2020, 7, 14. 181 Uganda Bureau of Statistics, “National Population Projections by Single Age and Sex (2015–2040).” 182 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. 183 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. 184 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. 185 Hon. Obiga Kania, Minister of State for Internal Affairs, “Statement to Parliament on Decentralisation of NIRA Services,” 14. 186 Hon. Obiga Kania, Minister of State for Internal Affairs, 14. 187 Parliamentary Hansard Debate, March 11, 2020, 10. 188 Auditor General, “A Value for Money Audit Report on the Identification and Registration of Persons by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA),” 5–6, 30. 189 Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, “Report of the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on the Learners’ Project Under the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA),” March 2018, 10. 190 ResilientAfrica Network, Makerere University School of Public Health, “Understanding the Benefits, Costs, and Challenges of the National Identification System in Uganda,” 42. 191 19.5% of women experienced delays of longer than 6 hours at the registration point, while only 13.0% of men experienced a similar delay. The authors of the study attributed this to women being more likely to be patient and tolerant of delays. ResilientAfrica Network, Makerere University School of Public Health, 24. 192 ResilientAfrica Network, Makerere University School of Public Health, 24. 193 Uganda Bureau of Statistics and ICF, “Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2016,” 29. 194 Uganda Bureau of Statistics, “2020 Statistical Abstract,” 35. 195 World Bank, “Project Paper on a Proposed Additional Credit in the Amount of SDR 10 Million (US$15.0 Million Equivalent) to the Republic of Uganda for an Additional How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesale Exclusion of Women and Older Persons 83