ID PROJECT: Karamajong Have Unrecognized Fingerprints

The mass national identity card enrollment exercise has slowed down in Karamoja because of the failure by the biometric scanners to detect the fingerprints of several applicants and high illiteracy levels amongst locals.

Between 30 and 50 minutes are spent on individuals whose fingerprints are faulty at most of the enrollment centers visited by our reporter.

Kassim Kamoga, the District Information Technology Officer-Moroto acknowledges cases of unrecognized fingerprints. He blames the problem on hard labor in the area, which affects the finger prints.

Kamoga also says the biometric scanners can’t detect people with little blood and advises residents to use the morning hours to register.

Nahaman Ojwee, the Napak Resident District Commissioner confirms the problem of unrecognized finger prints in his district. He says the finger prints have been destroyed by hard labor.

He urges the enrollment officials to pick the little the machines can record because there is no way clear finger prints can be reinvented for the Karimojong.

He also asks the project authorities to speed up processing allowances for the staffs most of whom are going without meals moreover in very hard to reach areas like Karamoja.

On April 14, government rolled out the countrywide mass national identity card enrollment exercise. The enrollment targets 18 million people from 16 years of age and above across 7,410 parishes across the country.