Uganda Is Making Iris Biometrics Part Of Its New National Digital ID

Uganda is making iris biometrics part of its new national digital ID

Rhoda Wilson

Uganda is making iris biometrics part of its new national digital identity card.  It serves not just as an added layer of “security” but also as an alternative for people who do not have fingerprints that can be matched.

During a recent parliamentary briefing, Rosemary Kisembo, the Executive Director of the National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (“NIRA”), responded to questions about issues raised in the Auditor General’s 2022/2023 report.

Rosemary Kisembo is a Ugandan software engineer and corporate executive who has served as the Executive Director of the National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA) since 14 May 2021. 

She is an ambassador for ID4Africa, a “movement” that aims to help African nations achieve the objectives of the United Nations (“UN”) Sustainable Development Goal 16.9.

ID4Africa’s foundation partners are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network.  Its development partner is the World Bank, a specialised agency of the UN, and its thematic partner is Mastercard.

It is claimed that ID4Africa is not directly part of Identification for Development (“ID4D”) and is a regional movement that focuses on digital identity development in Africa.  However, ID4Africa aligns with the global ID4D agenda and its goals and has common orchestrators.

ID4D is a World Bank initiative which focuses on promoting digital identification systems, globally. You can see how far this nefarious plan has progressed in various countries HERE.  In a report released in 2018 by the World Bank titled ‘ID4D Country Diagnostic: Uganda’ the World Bank stated: “The work of ID4D is made possible with support from World Bank Group, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, and the Australian Government.”

A more recent report – the ‘World Bank’s Annual Report for 2023’ published in March this year – showcased the significant progress made by ID4D and its ugly sister the Digitalising Government to Person Payments (“G2Px”) initiative and named the collaborators. 

ID4D and G2Px’s success would not be possible without the close collaboration and strong support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; French Treasury; Norwegian Agency for Development (Norad); United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and the Omidyar Network. It is also a result of partnerships with academia, the private sector, and civil society.

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