own systems to make them compatible with the NIR. The Minister of Internal Affairs has said that, “all institutions that require to validate information in the National Identification Register are encouraged to develop or adopt appropriate technologies that can interface efficiently with the system at NIRA.”206 Another hidden cost is from programmes such as the World Bankfunded Uganda Reproductive Maternal and Child Health Systems Improvement Project (URMCHIP) who provided computers and equipment, vans, and other in-kind support to help NIRA scale up its birth and death registration activities.207 And as noted above, the ESP has found it necessary to collect its own information on beneficiaries that are missing from the national identification register. These are only some of the hidden expenses the national ID system must include in its full cost accounting. NIRA is extremely conscious of its own performance issues, but it also appears to be moving away from solving the manifold implementation issues on the ‘supply side’ and is instead aiming to force the population onto the Ndaga Muntu system by making it impossible to live without it in Uganda. A ‘Management Response’ to this critique was: The Authority has endeavoured to conduct outreaches with the aim of sensitising the public and bringing issuance of IDs closer to the people. However, the results have been much lower than expected. There has been an increase in demand for the National ID in the urban areas because institutions like banks, telecoms, embassies and some government agencies require the National ID as a unique and accepted identifier. There has therefore been a value/benefit attached to the National ID. The same practice needs to be enforced across the rural and urban areas by attaching benefits to the National ID. NIRA requires the support of [the] government to enforce the status of the National ID as a unique identifier. For example, requiring the National ID for access to any government services like education, health and social services. We believe this will increase the demand for the National ID.208 Meanwhile, NIRA has increasingly become the target for political criticism. In May 2020, in response to mounting public scrutiny and dissatisfaction with NIRA, President Yoweri Museveni ordered Executive Director of NIRA Judy Obitre-Gama to vacate her position when her contract ended on July 15, 2020. Obitre-Gama had served as Executive Director since NIRA was formed in 2015. In his order dismissing Obitre-Gama, President Museveni cited, “problems faced by NIRA, especially relating to the issuance of national identity cards,” and charged the Minister of Internal Affairs with finding a new Executive Director of NIRA, “preferably with legal or information technology background.”209 Additionally, in July 2020, Parliament ordered the Auditor General to investigate allegations of widespread mismanagement at NIRA, delays in NIC issuance and replacement services, and failure to deliver NICs to older children captured in the 2017 Learners Project.210 NIRA gained a new Executive Director in May 2021, Rosemary Kisembo, who brings the expertise in IT systems that President Museveni was seeking.211 Kisembo estimates that it will take another eight years to finish the registration processes and issue every Ugandan citizen with an NIN.212 Meanwhile the government has simultaneously announced that it will replace all Ndaga Muntu cards by 2024 with an expensive chipped card.213 Although, before the government invests any more funds into this system, we must ask: are the benefits worth the costs? 72 Chased Away and Left to Die