Crossing borders of Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya by the nations’ citizens is set to increase as the use of national identity cards and other agreed national documents, including voter’s card and student’s identity cards, came into force yesterday.

The project, to be implemented under a tripartite arrangement, was agreed upon during a summit between the three Heads of State in Uganda in June last year.

The leaders agreed to establish a single tourist visa, a single customs territory–launched last year–as well as fast track a joint railway line project, oil pipeline, and adopt national identity cards as travel documents.

The ID initiative is meant to facilitate free movement of people within the region as stipulated in the East African Common Market protocol, the second stage of the integration process.

A spot visit of the Rwanda-Uganda borders at Gatuna by The New Times showed that the rollout of the new initiative was long over due.

Although it was New Year’s public holiday, lines formed at the migration offices with several Rwandans using their identity cards to cross to Uganda.

The same scenario transpired on Ugandan side of the border.

"I’m going to Kabale District in Uganda to visit my friends. I just heard that today people will start crossing the border with identity cards; I don’t have a passport so I had to utilise this opportunity,” Theoneste Ndindiriyimana, from Gicumbi District, said at Gatuna border.

Boniface Tumwijukye, a Ugandan from Ntungamo District, who crossed to Rwanda using his ID, said it would serve citizens more if the project was extended to Burundi and Tanzania as well.

"I’m going to Cyangugu for adult English teaching; it’s a good process because you don’t have to spend much time at the border. However, to make it fully beneficial it needs to be extended to other countries to help us move in all East African countries freely,” the teacher said.

Currently, only Rwandans and Kenyans have national identity cards, meaning Ugandans will be using voter’s cards until the country issues IDs to its citizens.

At Kigali International Airport, all systems were set to receive Kenyans and Ugandans using identity cards or voter’s cards as travel documents and also to allow Rwandans flying out to the two destinations to use the same document.

However, by the time this paper visited the immigration offices at the airport, (at around 5pm) there had not been a single traveller who had used the new system.

But the officer in charge of immigration at the airport, Charles Nkubito, confirmed that all systems were set and immigration staff notified on the new procedures.

"The security staff and other personnel are well aware of the new system and will allow Rwandans to check in with their identity cards and also to receive Kenyan and Ugandan visitors using the arrangement. But most of our travellers are still using passports,” he said.

How it works

Travellers present their identity card to the immigration officer who checks it with a machine to verify its validity.  The passenger is then issued a coupon bearing a stamp indicating that they are eligible to cross.

After crossing, one presents the national identity card to the officials on the other side of the border, who provide another coupon with a stamp with a six-month valid stay in the destination country.

It takes almost a half-a-minute to clear the traveller compared to when one was using conventional travel documents.

Ange Sebutege, the communications officer at the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration, said reports indicated that the process had started smoothly at all the country’s entry points.

He added they intend to launch an awareness campaign to inform the public about the initiative across the country.

Sebutege clarified that those who travel for the purpose of work or study will still need to move with the standard travel documents like passport and Laissez-Passer since they will need to get visas from the destination countries.

The same applies to children who do not have national identity cards, he said.

Due to lack of adequate information on how the project operates, some people at Gatuna border post who had come along with their children yesterday were turned away.

Use of tourist visa

Meanwhile, the use of single tourist visa also came into force yesterday in the three countries. The scheme is envisaged to increase the number of tourists as well as sell the region as a single tourist destination.

The visa costs $100 (about Rwf66,500) valid for 90 days, and will be paid at the point of entry in a member country or foreign missions.

The issuing country will take $40, including $10 for administrative cost, while other two members will share the remaining $60 equally.

A holder of a single tourist visa will be able to travel around the three countries without the burden of seeking any other travel document.

The transfer of shares to other members will be done on quarterly basis, although a report indicating the performance will be released every month. Heads of State are set to launch the projects later this month.