CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: IT IS TIME TO RETHINK THE APPROACH TO DIGITAL ID IN UGANDA Seven years after the introduction of Ndaga Muntu, it is time to fundamentally rethink the approach to digital ID in Uganda. Our report, reflecting in-depth empirical research, contains ample evidence of the extent of exclusion that results from the Ndaga Muntu system, how it especially impacts the human rights of marginalized individuals and groups, and how it is a growing cause of anger and frustration among the Ugandan population. This research only confirms emerging evidence from places like Kenya, where the plight of the Nubian, Somali-Kenyan, and the ‘double registered’ has been highlighted by activists and been the subject of a high-profile court case;214 Jamaica, where a coalition of civil society organizations are challenging the emerging national digital ID system;215 and India, where the consequences of Aadhaar have already been well documented, and have all too often led to exclusion and death.216 In many ways, the wholesale exclusion from Uganda’s national ID system is directly linked to the ‘original sin’ of tying a system designed as “national security weapon” to the delivery of essential government services and human rights. But our research does not only assess the exclusionary and human rights impact of Ndaga Muntu as an intrinsic wrong, we have also detailed how it fails to deliver on many of its instrumentalist promises. The national security rationale is actually undermined by high levels of exclusion, and has the added downside of stirring up trouble, anger, frustration while interfering with Uganda’s political ecosystem. Meanwhile, Ndaga Muntu is eating up government money that is in short supply; money that could also have been used to increase funding for health care, social benefits and the provision of other social rights. We believe it is important for Uganda’s political leaders to realize the full costs associated with imagining Ndaga Muntu primarily as a national security system and then expecting it to work well for service delivery. These costs should not just include financial costs, even though they are significant, but also the costs of violating the human rights of their people, failing to achieve their social development goals, and, potentially, risking the country’s political stability. The rush to digitalisation and integration has meant that potentially lifesaving programmes, like cash transfers through the SCG, which have delivered many benefits to Uganda’s older population, are forced to cope with new challenges that jeopardize their impact. The struggling healthcare system, still grossly underfunded, must now implement expensive changes that bring little tangible benefit. But as representatives of international organizations, bilateral donors, line ministries and other experts have told us, it is difficult to deliver this message about Ndaga Muntu because it is operating under a national security umbrella. Questions or criticism are too easily ignored or brushed away by invoking “national security” reasons. We believe this approach is a dead end. While this report contains a severe critique of Uganda’s national ID system in its current form, we do not want to dismiss the potential of this and many other digital ID systems. Ndaga Muntu has been claimed, for example, to save the government money by removing ghost workers from the public pension payroll, which is an admirable goal. And individuals we spoke with gave us many reasons why they feel that the national digital ID has been a benefit to them, such as being able to prove their identity, accessing public How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesale Exclusion of Women and Older Persons 73