The biometric data capture registration of national identity cards for those who missed the earlier exercise ended on Monday in some parts of the country. Pascal Nyamurinda, the National ID Project Coordinator, told The New Times that the exercise that was carried out in Kigali city, the Southern Province and some districts in the Western Province, ended well. “Our plan was to make sure that all the people who missed the exercise of data capture for finger prints, photography and signatures in this part of the country should get a another chance to register,” Nyamurinda said. According to Nyamurinda, 90 percent of the Rwandan population had registered while 10 percent had missed the exercise. About 5,300,000 people reportedly registered for the IDs and over 3,800,000 cards have been distributed to the owners. According to Nyamurinda, the same exercise will start on Wednesday in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and the other three remaining districts of the Western province. “We divided the country into two parts for better coverage and now the first phase is over. On Wednesday, the rest of the provinces will start the same exercise for those who missed out,” he explained. However, the coordinator said that the exercise was slowed by people who were always ‘migrating’. “We had problems dealing with prisoners and students in some provinces because of their abrupt movements from one institution to another,” he revealed. The exercise of registering and issuing of the national identity cards will cost US$18 million. It was entirely funded by tax revenue. Ends
