The Ministry of Internal Affairs has said that it has confiscated over 10,000 genuine Ugandan national IDs from foreigners who were seeking to use them to acquire Ugandan passports.
The Ministry’s spokesperson, Simon Mundeyi, disclosed this alarming situation during a press briefing on Monday, saying the falsified national IDs were confiscated and sent to the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) for annulment.
Mundeyi attributes the situation to the absence of a national data bank during the initial issuance of national IDs. He says many ineligible individuals were granted these IDs
He however says the Ministry has been vigilant since 2014, confiscating these deceitfully obtained IDs and collaborating with NIRA to cancel them.
“At the time the country started issuing national IDs, there was no national data bank and therefore whoever came with any sort of information was issued with a national ID. We have however got many of these people and have continuously handed them over to NIRA, others are in the process of cancelling them.” he says
Furthermore, Mundeyi revealed that there has been an unprecedented surge in foreign nationals attempting to acquire Ugandan passports for dubious purposes. These individuals exploit the appeal of Uganda’s digital passports, which are in high demand internationally.
Mundeyi stressed that this disturbing trend of foreigners possessing genuine Ugandan national IDs obtained through fraudulent documents has been escalating, raising concerns ahead of the 2026 elections.
He said that the ministry is also working to improve the security of the national ID system to prevent future fraud.
“We are working to improve the security of the national ID system to prevent future fraud. We want to make sure that only Ugandan citizens are able to obtain a national ID,” Mundeyi said.
The ministry’s crackdown is seen as a way to protect the integrity of the country’s passport and to prevent it from being used for fraudulent purposes.