GASABO - President Paul Kagame yesterday presided over the inauguration of the new National Identification (NID) project and card distribution at the NID headquarters in Kimihurura.

On arrival, the president was given a guided tour around the project’s production house by Local Government  (MINALOC) minister Protais Musoni, and the National ID Project Coordinator, Pascal Nyamurinda.

Shortly after the tour, the President and the First Lady lined up to be issued their national IDs. 

Amidst applause the president, while braving the afternoon heat, caused laughter as he called on other people to follow suit and line up for their IDs.

About 20 people from Nyarugenge Sector queued behind the President and the First Lady to be issued the  IDs in what now paves way for a country-wide issuance.

According to  the Secretary General of MINALOC, Eugene Barikana, Nyarugenge will be followed by Kicukiro and Gasabo districts respectively in Kigali City.

The activity will then head to the Southern Province, followed by the Eastern, Northern and finally Western Provinces. By September 15, when parliamentary elections kick off, it is hoped that most Rwandans will have got their new IDs.

Nyamurinda told reporters that 1,600,000 cards were ready and efforts were in progress to see to it that the process concludes smoothly.

About 5,300,000 people reportedly registered for the IDs. About US$18 million has been injected into the project, an amount which was entirely sourced from tax revenue.

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