WISE NEWS

Tanzania's new identification cards to improve security, economy

Tanzania's new national identification card programme began last month in Dar es Salaam in an effort to improve security and increase government revenue, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Issaya Mungulu.

• Tanzanian woman holds her ID card after casting her ballot for the general election at a polling station outside Dar Es Salaam on October 31, 2010. Tanzania has begun registration for new national ID cards. 

The programme will require Tanzanian nationals and foreign citizens residing in the country for at least six months and who are at least 18 years old to register and carry an identification card.

"In principle, the IDs will help our security systems monitor criminals," Mungulu told Sabahi. "The data from National Identification Authority (NIDA) will be used [during investigations] to learn about a suspect's background, which includes, but is not limited to, where someone lives or works and the like."

Fingerprints and photos for all ID bearers will be taken to ease the process of identifying individuals in the future. Identifying individuals who live and work in Tanzania is paramount to ensuring their safety, especially given the number of undocumented refugees who have trickled into the country from war-torn neighbouring countries over the years, he said.

For more than 40 years, Tanzania has received refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and some criminal elements may have come through along the way, Mungulu said.

With that influx of refugees entering the country, creating a system to identify an individual's nationality, legal status and other information becomes crucial to overall security efforts, he said.

The national identification card database will be linked to other national systems, such as the postal code system, the Tanzania Revenue Authority, police databases, and international law enforcement agencies such as Interpol. The interfaces between various agencies, domestic and international, will help achieve long-term security and economic goals, Mungulu said.

So far, all government employees and professionals working in banks have been prioritised and registered, NIDA Director General Dickson Maimu told reporters at a news conference in Dar es Salaam.

Starting in September, the programme will be rolled out to other parts of the country. Registration is slated to be completed in 2014, but will continue thereafter to register civilians who reach the age requirement. "Registration will be a continuous process," Maimu said.

To adequately prepare for this undertaking, Maimu said NIDA conducted a pilot programme early in June in Kilosa district in the Morogoro region. The exercise helped the agency discover and address remaining kinks in the process, he said.

"As you know, Dar es Salaam is the biggest city in the country. Once we successfully issue IDs in Dar es Salaam, the project will succeed throughout the country," Maimu told reporters.

Identification cards will be issued free of charge to all Tanzanians, while the United Nations High Commission for Refugees will cover costs for refugees, he said.

Identification cards linked to social services, bank loans

Under the new programme, it will be mandatory for all Tanzanian nationals to register and carry a national identification card. Infraction of the law could lead to imprisonment of up to six months, said NIDA Public Relations Manager Thomas William.

"After all, the ID is going to be tied to other social service systems. If you decline to register or give wrong information, this can be to your detriment. You will not be eligible for other services until you have the ID. Therefore, people will have to get them," William told Sabahi.

The cards will be issued by Iris Corporation Berhad, a Malaysian firm that won the contract to issue 25 million IDs. The project will cost 200 billion shillings ($124 million) and is funded by the Tanzanian government.

Joseph Bwakyayo, 55, a banker with National Bank of Commerce Limited in Dar es Salaam, told local media that identifying potential borrowers will help lenders assess risks and costs on an individual basis and better determine the creditworthiness of each borrower, which will make loans more accessible to citizens.

"Tanzanians are not registered and it is costly to certify all loan applicants to make sure banks are loaning to the right persons. It is like gambling," Bwakyayo said.

Bwakyayo said lenders often have to verify something as simple as residency by resorting to home and business visits, and even then they are met with fraudulent practices by some who pose as business owners. "To mitigate those risks, we keep interest rates high," he said.

Apart from passing certification cost onto borrowers, some banks charge up to 40% to spread risks of default, he said.