Uganda accuses Kenyans of rushing to take Ugandan IDs to influence its next general elections
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The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Uganda raise an alarm over Kenyans along with several other East African countries using Ugandan identity cards (IDs) to commit crimes
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Uganda raise an alarm over Kenyans along with several other East African countries using Ugandan identity cards (IDs) to commit crimes.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Uganda has been forced to take action as a result of the inflow of Kenyans who were traveling to the country illegally in order to obtain national identity cards.
Kenya and a number of other East African nations were allegedly utilizing the identity cards to conduct crimes, including drug trafficking, according to Ugandan authorities.
Plans to use Identity Cards to sway the country’s 2026 general election or get passports with holders posing as Ugandan residents also prompted concerns.
The relative ease of obtaining ID cards from Uganda was attributed to the absence of a centralized database within the country.
Experts in foreign policy and security claim that the vulnerabilities encourage fraud by enabling ineligible applicants to trick the agency responsible for granting IDs by pretending to be Ugandan residents.
The Ministry lamented that the few who were caught reportedly incentivized the immigration officials with bribes to secure their release and fast-track approval for their applications.
As of August 8, Ugandan authorities already flagged over 10,000 ID cards that immigration officials illegally issued.
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Apart from Kenya, people in Burundi, China, India, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Sudan are also obtaining ID cards by abusing the absence of a centralized database.
“We have confiscated the 10,000 ID cards and we are sending them to National Identification and Registration Authority so that they can be canceled,” the Ministry revealed the plan to destroy all the illegally obtained IDs.
The Ugandan Foreign Affairs Ministry also emphasized that many foreign nationals were using all methods necessary to get the nation’s digital passport because of its high level of demand on the international stage.
However, people frequently use these ID cards and passports to hide their identities and enter nations like the US and China illegally.
Specifically, he highlighted the stringent measures enforced by both countries against the entry of Nigerians and drug traffickers allegedly using Ugandan passports to gain unauthorized access.
VisaGuide Passport Index ranks the Ugandan passport 141st in the world as of July 2023, in contrast to Guide Passport Ranking Index, which ranks it at 83rd among global passports.
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