National IDs for Kigali ready

KIGALI - The new electronic national identity cards for Kigali city residents are ready, Pascal Nyamurinda, the Coordinator of the National Identity Card Project has said. In a telephone interview with Sunday Times yesterday, Nyamurinda revealed that the IDs were ready a couple of weeks ago but are awaiting their official launch. He explained that the issuing of IDs depends on authorities in the Ministry of Local Government (Minaloc). The Minister for Local Government, Protais Musoni, also confirmed that the cards are ready. He explained that the issuing exercise is awaiting the passing of the law regarding citizenship and nationality.Musoni continued that the law was approved by law makers and pending the president’s consent before publication in the National Gazette. The National ID registration exercise began in February this year with Nyarugenge followed by Kicukiro and Gasabo Districts. Officials had stressed that the production and printing of Kigali City IDs would be finalised in April and that issuing would start in May. Nyamurinda said the distribution process will start with Nyarugenge followed by Kicukiro and Gasabo Districts. He explained that the distribution process would follow the same procedure as the photography exercise. 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. Ends