DAVID MUWANGA

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI: East African Community (EAC) deputy secretary general in charge of political federation, Ms Beatrice Kiraso, has urged Uganda and Tanzania to expedite the acquisition of national identity cards.

"It is very important that all the citizens of the EAC member states acquire national identity cards since we are moving towards the implementation of the Common Market protocol," she said at the opening of the third meeting of the sectoral council on inter-state security in Bujumbura, Burundi.

"Implementation of the Common Market protocol that starts July 1, means that there will be free movement of goods, labour, services, capital, so a national identification card would enable effective implementation of the protocol," she noted. However Tanzania's Minister for Home Affairs Lawrence Masha said the country is in line with the introduction of national identity cards.

"We have issued a tender for the construction of the infrastructural backbone for the national identity card project and an implementation agency has been formed," he explained.

He said that the pilot project will start in the country's capital Dar es Salaam and is expected to be completed by 2012 just before their national census. Uganda's Minister for Internal Affairs Kirunda Kivejinja said that after taking long for government to secure a national identity card, they have established a national information security system and the first user will be the country's Electoral Commission who will use it to capture the new voters estimated at 5 m.

'This will enable us have a clean voter's register and by 2012 we shall have the national identity cards," he confirmed. He said that the security sector is critical because you cannot talk of economic development without security and peace.

"The Customs Union and the Common Market are positive developments and implementation calls for security measures to deny the wrong elements opportunity to take advantage of the developments in the region," he said.

"However sometimes we pass resolutions and pay little attention to their implementation, we must prioritise the work-plans," he advised.Kenya's Minister for Provincial Administration in the office of the President and Internal Security Simeon Lesirima said the Customs Union and Common Market are being implemented to enable free movement of goods, services, labour and capital.