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 Zakariyya Adaramola The Federal Government says it is enforcing the mandatory use of the National Identification Number (NIN) beginning from January 1, 2019. The Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Abubakar Aziz, disclosed this in…
REGISTRAR-General Mr Tobaiwa Tonneth Mudede has agreed to issue a passport to United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean journalist Violet Gonda, who last week unsuccessfully applied for the travel document because she was “blacklisted”. Gonda, who returned home early this year after spending…
By Charles Mabhena Former Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said Thursday he was shocked that Zimbabwe had a “Stop List” which was being used by the Registrar General to refuse to issue passports to Zimbabwean citizens. Journalist Violet Gonda, who…
JOURNALIST Violet Gonda has been refused a Zimbabwean passport by registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede because she was apparently blacklisted by the government. She is believed to be one of many Zimbabweans on Mudede’s so-called ‘stop list’. Gonda was born, raised…
Violet Gonda, a Zimbabwean journalist who has been working abroad for the past eighteen years was this week, denied a Zimbabwean passport. Gonda who currently holds a UK passport was told that she was on a government blacklist due to…
By Chinedu Eze Many Nigerians are claiming the citizenship of other countries in West Africa in order to obtain passports from those countries and travel overseas, THISDAY has learnt. THISDAY gathered that Nigerians who engage in this act, include those…
Kenyan opposition politician, Miguna Miguna, has declared that, in two weeks time, he will make a third attempt to return to the East African nation. Miguna, who officiated the symbolic inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga as the people’s president…
Former Comoros president Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi rejects charges of corruption and embezzling public funds in connection with a scheme to sell his country’s passports and will prove his innocence, his lawyer said on Thursday. A court document, dated Aug.…
A l’approche des échéances électorales, la Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI) est à pied d’œuvre pour recenser les togolais en âge de voter et établir des cartes d’électeurs qui seront utilisées à cet effet. Cependant, comment pourrait-on constituer un fichier…
TWENTY two million Tanzanians will be registered and provided with national identity cards by December this year, officials have confirmed. Acting Director General of the National Identification Authority (NIDA), Alphonce Malibiche said the registration process was progressing well as plans…