All Rwandans above the age of sixteen who are legally entitled to an ID card will have received their new electronic cards by June, says Pascal Nyamurinda, the National Identity Card Project coordinator.

"About ninety five percent of the target population have received the new identity cards and the process is still ongoing at the district and sector offices,” Nyamurinda said yesterday.

"Due to technical problems and some file inconsistencies, the process has ended up slower than planned. Some people provided inconsistent data hence their cards could not be processed without further clarification.”

Another problem he cited that led to delays were cases where photos were not clear enough.

"Some of the photos taken were not very good and hence we had to retake them again before final processing. We have opened centres at the district and sector offices and those who missed the first photography exercise can go there now.”

Nyamurinda also revealed that the National ID office is still waiting the Cabinet’s decision on the deadline for the use of old Identity cards.

In the meantime both new and old cards are valid, though when the issuing of new electronic cards is complete nationally, the use of the old ones will be terminated.

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