SECTION 2: “IF YOU DO NOT HAVE IT, YOU WILL BE LEFT BEHIND”: THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT OF NDAGA MUNTU Figure 3. An older man holds his Ndaga Muntu and paperwork at a distribution point for the Senior Citizens’ Grant in Kayunga. Has Ndaga Muntu fostered greater inclusion for poor and marginalized people in Uganda? More specifically, has the national ID system improved access to the human right to health for women and the human right to social security for older persons, especially those living in poverty? This is the central question that we set out to answer in this report. We therefore focused our research in Uganda on the experience of (pregnant) women and older persons living in poverty and marginalization. In Uganda, the primary rationale for the national ID project has been national security, including the protection of borders, elections, and citizenship.64 Previously, Ugandans relied on a wide variety of functional IDs, such as Voter’s ID cards, drivers’ licenses baptism cards, graduated tax slips, and letters from the LC1 Chairperson; refugees were issued cards through a partnership between the Ugandan Office of the Prime Minister and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).65 However, while national security has been the primary rationale and driver of Uganda’s national ID project, the Registration of Persons Act (ROPA) of 2015 establishes that the reach of the national ID will be much broader and affect numerous areas of government services and beyond. Most importantly, Section 65 of ROPA establishes a nonexclusive list of government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that shall have access and use of the National Identity Register (NIR), while Section 66 establishes that the national ID will be mandatory for access to a range of government functions. The result is that in Uganda, Ndaga Muntu has become a critical gateway to access the human right to health and social security as well as many other human rights. Exclusion from this digital ID system can therefore lead to a range of serious human rights violations. Exclusion from Ndaga Muntu may equal a form of ‘social death’ and can even result in 24 Chased Away and Left to Die