Shs300b ID deal on brink of collapse

SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 5 DECEMBER 2011

The national identity card project, now facing procurement queries, corruption allegations and cash problems is on the brink of collapse, with a section of MPs already drafting a motion seeking to block it. The development comes amid fresh demands by government for an additional Shs118 billion to salvage the project.

The MPs led by Mr Michael Mawanda (Igara East, NRM) argue that the ID project was illegally taken to Ministry of Internal Affairs and fronted as a security matter in order to steal public funds. MPs are also worried that Ugandans might not get cards any time soon.

“We want accountability for all the money so far given to the German company taken to Uganda Registration Services Bureau,” Mr Mawanda said. “We also want this project retendered using open bidding and an ad hoc committee instituted to investigate allegations of corruption and reports that foreigners have infiltrated the government database.”

Mühlbauer Technology Group was contracted in March 2010 on the orders of President Museveni. There was no competitive bidding; instead, reports claim that the then German ambassador to Uganda, Reinhard Butchnolz, lobbied the President, a week before signing the contract.

The company was expected to deliver 3.5 million IDs by December 2010 and at least 21 million by the end of the project in June next year, but the firm last week released only 400 IDs, a year after it was hurriedly recruited outside official procurement methods and given billions of taxpayer money.

Government says the ID project is part of the National Security Information Systems Project, which is being implemented under the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

However, any attempts by Parliament to terminate the ID contract will certainly leave the government with a legal battle on its hands, in which the German firm will demand compensation in billions of shillings for loss of business.By issuing the IDs, the government hoped to boost security; help eliminate corruption and aid in maintaining the integrity of the national voters’ register ahead of the 2011 polls.

A senior official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs told the parliamentary committee on ICT in August that a pilot test run for the issuance of the national IDs found data for at least 1.2 million people is wanting.

Mr Marcellino Bwesigye, the operations and Uganda National Identification Programme spokesperson, said during the registration process, EC officials did not attach evidence of individual citizenship, making some data unreliable. He said only four million out of 5.2 million people registered in the run up to February polls had valid data.

Seeking extra funding
Daily Monitor reported last week that equipment bought to make IDs is rotting away but the government now wants MPs to approve about Shs100 billion to complete the project. Muhlabaeur officials, however, declined to comment on the matter last week.

In what Mr Mawanda calls “duplication of efforts” in his draft motion, Shs100 billion is budgeted for under Human Resource Survey project, Ubos is spending more than Shs150 billion on National Population and Housing Census planned for next year and another Shs100 billion under Credit Reference Bureau undertaken by Bank of Uganda.
“Rwanda had an open tender in which they procured a UK firm. What is the security issue about age, sex, and religion?” Mr Mawanda said.