Last week, the government of Uganda started issuing national identity cards.

The wait for a national ID has lasted several decades and many people had given up on its ever becoming a reality. I have not yet seen one, but I hope the IDs, however simple or sophisticated they maybe, have been issued against a reliable citizens’ database.

For the most high-tech card ID does not mean much if its owner is Mr or Ms Ghost.

Whoever the issuing authority is, we hope they are more competent than the one that issues national passports. For although passport applicants are far fewer than those eligible for national IDs, passport issuance is simply hilarious.

For example, internal affairs authorities don’t know how many people they have issued with diplomatic passports — at least they cannot answer parliamentary queries to that effect.

Now, very few people qualify for diplomatic passports — definitely less than a thousand, but the issuing authority does not know who got them.

Usually, we get to hear about a Ugandan diplomatic passport when its holder is arrested abroad carrying illegal narcotics — and s/he certainly isn’t a Ugandan diplomat or dignitary.

As for ordinary passports, well, it is believed many are held by non-Ugandans from countries whose people have a high propensity to migrate to the West, and those from countries whose nationals are notorious for pulling fast deals and thus have difficulty getting visas.

With such a background, we pray that the Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for issuing national IDs will be more efficient than the Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for issuing passports. Incidentally, most Ugandans don’t lose sleep over the country of origin of who gets the national ID.

It is Ugandan culture to accept people from elsewhere with ease. Be you Congolese, Rwandan or Tanzanian, they will just say – “That one is our person,” if you have been living peacefully with your neighbours.

So concerns about the national ID are more likely to arise over multiple issuance to one individual and ghost citizens accessing the IDs.

The tendency of our officials is to create ghosts whenever a chance to get a few extra shillings arises, without caring about the consequences. We have had ghost soldiers, ghost pupils, ghost teachers and entire ghost schools and ghost health centres. 

And it is not only government officials; international banks in Kampala have lost billions to ghost borrowers whom their staff accord loans whereupon the borrowers apparently convert the money into spirit currency which cannot be returned to the banks.

The telecoms have also transferred billions of money to ghost clients since the mobile money transfers started. And the problem with ghosts is that they take priority over genuine clients and workers when it comes to getting served.

So let us hope ghost citizens will not be the first to cast their ballots in future elections. And the ghost voters can support either opposition or government at that!

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International fellow for development journalism. E-mail: [email protected]