KIGALI - Following the inauguration of the new electronic national identity cards (Indangamuntu) by President Paul Kagame mid last month, the issuing exercise has now reached Kicukiro and Gasabo districts.

Issuing of the national IDs will follow the same order that the registration and photography exercise took. The issuing of the new IDs began in Nyarugenge district mid last month..

According to Pascal Nyamurinda, the National ID Project Coordinator, the exercise in Kigali city is expected to end in the next two weeks.

”We are issuing to Kicukiro and Gasabo residents alongside those of Nyarugenge in order to finish in time and then proceed to other parts of the country,” he explained.

The activity will then head to the Southern Province, starting with Kamonyi district, followed by the Eastern, Northern and finally Western Province. 

Nyamurinda was optimistic that by September 15, when parliamentary elections kick off, most Rwandans if not all, will have got their IDs.

There will be another round of photography to cater for those who could have missed out in the earlier exercise.

However, Nyamurinda explained that citizens cannot receive their IDs in areas where they did not register since their registration coupons are sent to where they were registered from.

A total of 495,000 people had their photos taken for the new electronic identity cards in Kigali City alone. 9,043,580 people registered for the national Identity Cards countrywide.

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