by Halima Athumani
KAMPALA
A low turnout and several technical glitches characterized the first day of Uganda's mass registration drive in which millions of citizens have been urged to apply for their first-ever national identity cards.
Anadolu Agency visited several registration centers across capital Kampala.
At Victory Church in Kibuli in southeastern Kampala, only 28 people had turned up by 12:30pm.
And at East Kololo Primary School, located near Kampala's central district, only 48 had turned up by 1 pm.
"Turnout has been fair, given that it is the first day," Anthony Okware Fabian, a village elder and member of the so-called citizenship verification team, told AA.
Nabuuma Irene, 27, described the questions on the registration form as "very simple," adding that she would urge her neighbors to follow suit.
The registration process – which is taking place in 7410 places around the country – will go on for four months.
The exercise targets nearly 18 million Ugandans above the age of 16, out of a total national population of some 37 million.
Citizens are required to present any form of identification documents – including voters' cards, birth certificates and passports – to register for the IDs.
In cases where people lack any form of identification, such as those from northern Uganda whose documents were destroyed during the war, the authorities will depend on village elders, like Fabian, who can confirm the identities of local residents.
Internal Affairs Ministry spokesperson Pamela Ankunda partially blamed the low turnout on a Muslim lawmaker, who she did not name, who allegedly urged Muslim citizens not to register during a recent radio interview.
"We have taken care of people's faiths and traditions, including Muslims," she told AA.
"We have provided for up to four spouses for men. Those who have more than one wife will be required to provide the particulars of their spouse so that in future all your children are linked to you," she said.
"Others are telling people that this is a political exercise being done by the ruling party and that it is an electoral process."
The spokesperson dismissed such claims as "not true."
Meanwhile, Hajji Abdul Nsubuga, head of the Secretariat National Security Information System Project, encouraged all citizens to register.
"This is the first time in the history of Uganda since independence that the Ugandan government is going to identify all her citizens in detail," he told AA.
The project brings together all the various government departments and agencies handling the registration exercise.
"Every applicant is going to fill a form giving government all the details about him/herself," Nsubuga explained.
"If you don't have a passport, birth certificate, baptism certificate or reports from previous schools, you can go to any respected Ugandan to get a letter of recommendation," he added.
This information will then be taken to a central storage system in which the information will be double-checked before IDs are printed and issued in September.
-Glitches-
Although each applicant is supposed to have their picture taken once the form has been filled out, Fabian said cameras had not been delivered yet.
"But they are going to bring it. They brought it, but it had a problem, so the pictures will be taken tomorrow," he told AA.
Many registration centers also have yet to receive computer kits, which include a laptop, fingerprint scanner, camera, document scanner and signature pad.
Ankunda, the ministry spokesperson, acknowledged that there had been problems.
"We know about these problems. Some areas do not have camera chargers and batteries, while others do not have the camera at all," she told AA.
Ankunda said that all agencies involved in the exercise had agreed that, "since we have 80 percent of the necessary material, we shall not allow the lack of the 20 percent to stop the exercise."
She added: "So this whole week, we shall continue delivering the kits for use."
The spokesperson urged citizens to "bear with us," asserting that the government would continue raising public awareness about the registrations drive.
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