Uganda MPs demand answers over QR code failures on new national IDs

Lawmakers in Uganda have asked the country’s National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to provide answers in the wake of widespread outcry that QR codes embedded in the country’s national ID cards can’t be used to authenticate card holders.

Parliament is weighing in following complaints from citizens that they are being turned away when trying to open bank accounts, buy SIM cards, or replace their phone lines because the new IDs cannot be digitally verified.

The issue was raised in Parliament by Aswa County MP Patrick Okello Onguti, according to a parliamentary news release.

In a session, the lawmaker lamented over the fact that citizens were finding it difficult to get verified while accessing critical public and private sector services requiring identity verification.

He recalled that NIRA had acknowledged back in February that the QR code system was not yet fully integrated into the ID card. A deadline of March 31 had been given for that process to be completed, but Okello expressed surprise that in August, the problem still persists.

The lawmaker decried the fact that because of the QR code verification problems, an extra fee of 5,000 Ugandan Shilling (US$ 1.34) is levied on anyone who needs a letter from NIRA to manually provide their personal identification details.

A response on the issue is expected from the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Government Chief Whip Dr Jane Ruth Aceng told parliament.

NIRA has faced scathing criticism over the failure of the QR codes, with some citizens blaming the ID authority for the inability to fulfil its mandate under the Registration of Persons Act 2015.

This comes as the Ugandan government is planning to expand a nationwide identity registration and renewal process which it launched in May 2025, targeting 33 million people.

The new drive, according to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, aims to reduce the number of eligible but unregistered Ugandans from 11.9 million to below two million.

In February, NIRA said the modernization process had seen the migration of 28.5 million biometric records onto the new MOSIP-based identity database.

Uganda’s QR code crisis shows a recurring pattern in African digital identity programs where governments appear to focus more on issuing physical credentials before the necessary verification infrastructure is fully in place.

In the same light, the development has further exposed the gap between legal mandate and actual functionality that exists in some of those identity systems across the continent, as institutions do not always demonstrate the ability to fully assume the responsibilities assigned to them by legal frameworks.

Article Topics

national ID  |  National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA)  |  QR code  |  Uganda