BY RAHMA SULEIMAN,, 17 MARCH 2013
Zanzibar — FOREIGNERS living or working in Zanzibar will be issued with special identity cards for proper identification, the office of registration and identification of Zanzibar has said.
"We need to make sure that foreigners in the Islands are identified and provided with 'Special Zanzibar Identity cards (ZanID) effective next financial year (2013/2014)," Mr Mohammed Ame, director of ZanID said here on Saturday.
In a media briefing here Mr Ame said the exercise follows complaints by some politicians about unfair delays in issuance of IDs. Zanzibar has a separate law from that of the union government's National Identification Authority (NIDA).
(NIDA) is now implementing its mutli-billion ID project aimed at making sure that all Tanzanian adults have the citizenship identification. Under the project, foreigners including refugees living in the country will also be given special IDs "ZanID were introduced in 2005 whose objectives include easy identification of Zanzibaris and foreigners, for security purpose and control forgeries such as ghost workers.
All Zanzibar citizens should apply for the document," said the director. He said despite complaints that many Zanzibaris have been denied accesses to IDs, performance of his office has been overwhelming as documents produced met international standards.
The International Standardization Organization (ISO) has awarded the ZanID office a certificate of recognition for producing standard and quality IDs for Zanzibaris, he explained. In response to continued complaints from some people and politicians that ZanID office staff were biased in issuing of the ZanID, Mr Mohamed Ame said there was no evidence to substantiate such claims.
He said that while politicians complained about their supporters being denied ZanIDs, more than 25,000 stamped identity cards have not been collected. According to regulations, the office was allowed to keep the documents for three years only.
.
.
Source: allAfrica
No comments :
Post a Comment