Opposition Uganda People’s Congress, UPC has joined its voice to many others calling for deadline of sim card validation by UCC to be extended to allow Ugandans enough time of preparation.
Several Ugandans including lawyers and politicians have made the same call, after UCC issued a 7 days ultimatum for verification of all sim cards registered to different telecom companies.
Lawrence Okae, the UPC national Chairman Akena faction says the announcement by UCC has caused panic among Ugandans and foreigners especially those without National Identification Cards.
“This has threatened Ugandans’ livelihood, since most nationals use their telecommunication sim cards to handle businesses and carry out transactions” Okea argued.
He added “We at UPC therefore ask government and the UCC to extend the deadline for at least another two months to enable Ugandans to access their National Identification numbers as well as provide ample time to go through the registration process.”
This morning, Kampala central MP, Muhammad Nsereko said the exercise should have been given at least 3 months so Ugandans could prepare their documents and have a smooth validation.
According to Nsereko, Ugandans in hard to reach areas walk several kilometers to access NIRA offices where registration for National IDs is taking place. He also argues that factory employees who work from early morning to late in the evening have not been catered for, considering they have no time to access NIRA offices which are only open from 8am to 5PM.
Ugandans have until mid night tonight to validate their sim cards or risk being switched off, in a move branded a matter of national security by police and UCC.
To verify their cards, one has to dial *197# and follow prompts.
