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Zanzibar ID exercise starts next week
2005-05-23 10:19:46
By Issa Yussuf, Zanzibar
The Zanzibar government will start issuing its citizens with the compulsory national identity cards (IDs) next Wednesday.
A senior government official announced at the weekend that 450,000 eligible Zanzibaris would be given the IDs.
The projection is 49,000 less than the 499,007 people registered as voters in the Isles ahead of this year’s general election.
Hassan Hajji Wambi, the Principal Secretary in the Zanzibar Ministry of the Regional Administration and Zanzibar Security Units, told the press that the IDs would be made under the supervision of US and Israel experts and would be issued to Zanzibari nationals only.
He said the exercise, to be conducted by local leaders (shehas) under the supervision of the registrar of persons (or identity cards) to be appointed by the president, would run until September this year. Wambi did not disclose how much the exercise would cost.
The decision to issue Zanzibaris with IDs has in the past elicited opposition from the Civic United Front (CUF), the main opposition party on the Isles.
Last week, Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume signed into law the Bill making it mandatory for all Zanzibaris aged 18 years and above to acquire IDs.
The secretary of the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council, Ramadhan Muombwa, said on Saturday that President Karume gave assent to the Bill last week.
This paves the way for Zanzibaris to acquire national identity cards before the elections scheduled for October 30.
According to the ID Act, the Zanzibar president must appoint a director to oversee the exercise.
CUF strongly opposed the Bill when it was tabled in the Zanzibar House of Representatives in April, saying providing Zanzibaris with national identity cards was a waste of money and part of a wider plot to “rig” the elections in favour of CCM.
The leader of the opposition in the House said it was absurd for the government to spend close to 5bn/- on the exercise when it was constantly complaining that it did not have enough money to organise elections.
The government argued at the time that law was aimed at making it easy to identify Zanzibaris and to ensure their safety as the movement of people among the three East African Community (EAC) member-states of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda became easier.
All the 16 CUF representatives opposed the Bill, while CCM’s 63 voted in its favour.
Under the new law, it is a criminal offence for any Zanzibari aged 18 and above not to have an identity card.
Violators of the law face a fine of at least 100,000/- or a one-year jail term or both.
Providing false information in order to obtain an identity card can land one in jail for six months.
The law also requires all Zanzibaris living outside Zanzibar to register with the authorities within one month of their return to the Isles.
The population of Zanzibar and its sister island of Pemba is 981,754 according to the 2002 census.
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