Tanzania to fast-track issuance of ID cards

Tanzanian authorities said on Monday that they intended to speed up issuance of national identity cards for citizens of the east African country.

The Minister for Home Affairs, Charles Kitwanga, told the National Assembly in the country's political capital of Dodoma that his ministry has applied for 5,000 Biometric Voter Registration kits from the National Electoral Commission (NEC) so as to speed up issuance of national identity cards.

The minister said NEC used the kits to register more than 22 million voters during last year's general elections in a span of three months.

Kitwanga said the gadgets will be handed to the National Identification Agency (NIDA) and it will use them to register Tanzanians for the national IDs.

"In the initial stages of identifying bona fide Tanzanians, we will also use NEC database which has particulars of 22 million Tanzanians captured during voter registration," he said.

Kitwanga said the move would help fast track the registration and issuance of national IDs to Tanzanians.

He told the Parliament that in 2016/17, NIDA has planned to issue national IDs to 22 million Tanzanians in all regions. NIDA had only issued national identity cards to only 2.5 million people until last year.

(APD)