Not all African countries require their citizens to carry a national identity card, but the number is rapidly increasing. ECOWAS Member States have committed to introduce a common-form biometric identity card by 2017. The introduction of these new systems may be based on concerns for national security or to improve delivery of public services: but for these aims to be achieved, law and procedures must ensure that people are not arbitrarily excluded from acquiring these documents.
Every citizen should have the right to a passport, enabling international travel, which should not be removed except following due process of law (for example, from a person accused of a serious crime).
Only some African countries establish an independent judicial procedure for a person to obtain a “certificate of nationality” or alternative document that is conclusive proof that a person is a national.
By Amahle Pillay The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has published its new draft identity management policy for public comment. The policy aims to introduce a new ID system in the country which will act as a single source of…
When they turn five years old, South African children should be “reregistered” with the government, with a comprehensive set of biometric data captured, the department of home affairs (DHA) has recommended. That, it says, is the way to stop foreigners…
Public Consultation Version, Government Notice No.1425, 31 December 2020 Section 3.3 Policy Objectives: This policy is developed with the following objectives in mind: Enable an inclusive digital population register that is secure, accurate and confidential Position the DHA as the…
By Mustafa Mahmoud On Mashujaa Day, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i handed the president his Huduma card and announced that the process of integrating personal data for Huduma Namba was complete. Soon after, the CS officially launched the distribution of…
By Ntando Thukwana MTN in Nigeria now has a couple more weeks to update and link the SIM cards of up to 30 million of its users with their ID numbers, after the telecoms regulator extended the deadline for the…
By Ayang Macdonald The minister in charge of digital economy and digital transformation in the West African nation of Togo, Cina Lawson, says one of the big digital projects the country is looking up to next year is the rollout…
By Tshegofatso Mothapo, Statelessness and Citizenship Review, 2(2), 331–337. This case note discusses Kennedy Gihana v Republic of Rwanda, Application No 017/2015 (‘Kennedy’). The case addressed whether the invalidation of the appellants’ passports was an arbitrary deprivation of nationality, rendering…
By Grace Mutung’u and Isaac Rutenberg (Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology (CIPIT) at Strathmore University) Statelessness and Citizenship Review, 2(2), 348–354 Introduction State issued digital identity is trending in sub-Saharan Africa, and Kenya has not been left behind.…
This short documentary by Haki na Sheria Initiative follows the journey of Kenyans denied their right to the National Identity Card as a result of being mistakenly included in the Refugee Database. Their appeal for this important document is a…
Following the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) convened an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry on Monday,…