By Namugerwa Martha
Opposition Members of Parliament have passed a motion to extend the deadline for registration, verification and validation of SIM cards which was pushed to 19th may 2017.
Opposition leader in parliament Hon. Winnie Kiiza said that they must remember that the registration for national IDs was first intended for persons of the voting age adding that most of the people have mobile money contributions in their Mobile Money.
Ndorwa West MP.,Wilfred Niwagaba seconded the extension the deadline for the government to reorganize itself adding that it is good for the ministry in charge of communications to first bring in a data protection law to help citizen who are registering because there are many people who have registered for national IDs yet they haven’t received them due to some uncontrollable reasons.
“My wife has tried registering her SIM card for three weeks yet her SIM card is not yet verified,” Niwagaba said.
Manjiya county MP JB Nambeshe also added that SIM card disconnection will disrupt mobile money business including the transfer of funds from Diaspora.
However the speaker of parliament Hon. Rebecca kadaga said that the government is not aware that people don’t have their ID cards and she asked NIRA to avail Ugandans with information they capture.
Mukono south MP Johnson Muyanja Senyonga supported the motion but Buvuma woman MP Jennifer Nantume Egunyu wanted the deadline extended for a month considering that the registration of people below 18 years and above is still ongoing.
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