ID photography: Rwandans in Diaspora face no deadline

Rwandans living in the Diaspora who qualify to acquire the new electronic IDs will be photographed from Rwanda but face no time limit, officials have said. The Ministry of Local Government has announced that there will be no deadline for Rwandans in the Diaspora on the photography exercise which has been going on since February 25. The exercise is expected to end in August, with officials saying that all photographed Rwandans should have their national Identity Cards before the forthcoming parliamentary elections due for late September this year. The process, which started with Nyarugenge District, will Tuesday enter its last day in Kicukiro District, before it continues in Gasabo District. Each district has four days. Over 15,000 Rwandans in the Diaspora registered last year for the new electronic IDs and 40 of them were on Friday photographed at the Rwanda Diaspora offices in Kimihurira. Majority of them live in Burundi, Ethiopia, France, Kenya, Sweden, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Assistant Administrator of the National Identity Card Project, Samson Muvuzankwaya, said that the photography exercise for Rwandans in the Diaspora would be continuous. “This aims at giving them enough time to have their photos taken as soon as they come in the country,” he said. Muvuzankwaya said that they could not issue a deadline for them (Diaspora community) since they live in different countries around the world but would have their photos conveniently taken on arrival in the country. The Coordinator of the National Identity Card Project, Pascal Nyamurinda, said that the government has established a special site for the Diaspora at the Rwanda Diaspora headquarters in Kimihurira for everyone who arrives in the country to be photographed. “We decided to put up a special arrangement to serve those staying in the out as they come in the country on their holidays or for other businesses,” Nyamurinda said. The photography exercise will cover the whole country on a district-by-district arrangement. The photographing exercise that is currently on in Kigali City would extend to Southern Province followed by the Western Province, Northern Province and then the Eastern Province. The exercise comes after Rwandans last year registered for new electronic national IDs.A total of 9,043,580 people registered for the national Identity Cards, and each person will have to pay Frw500 to get an ordinary ID. Ends