from ARNOLD MULENGA in Lusaka, Zambia
Zambia Bureau
LUSAKA, (CAJ News) – MORE than 1 million Zambians have enrolled to obtain digital identity cards.
This is under the Integrated National Registration Information System (INRIS) project that will see the introduction of a digital national registration card (NRC).
The project has an enrollment target of 10 million over the next decade.
Zambia has launched the third phase of enrollment of the project, which is underway in the Central and Luapula provinces as well as 79 national registration district offices around the country.
Milner Mwanakampwe, the Permanent Secretary for the Central province, described national registration as a security issue.
“It is among the priority areas that must be achieved in the next ten years,” Mwanakampwe said.
The Southern African country of over 20 million citizens has been using a paper-based card for national identity since independence from Britain in 1964.
The government in 2008 mentioned the possibility of migrating to a digital mode of identity.
The new administration of President Haikande Hichilema is prioritising the issue.
INRIS, a legal identity information management system, falls under the Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship.
It is one of the departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.
– CAJ News