37,067 ZanIDs remain uncollected, Reps told

AT LEAST 37,067 Zanzibar Residence Identity Cards (ZanIDs) remained uncollected, with Pemba Island accounting for almost 62 per cent of the total, the House of Representatives was told here yesterday.

Minister of State, President’s Office, Regional Administration, Local Governments and Special Departments, Mr Masoud Ali Mohammed told the House that South Pemba region’s Mkoani district tops the list with 7,088 uncollected ZanIDs, while North Pemba’s Wete district has 5,935 cards.

Chakechake and Micheweni districts have 5,802 and 4,146 uncollected identity cards, respectively, Minister Masoud said this in his reply to Pandani Representative, Professor Omar Fakih Hamad, who sought to know the number of uncollected ZanIDs in the country.

The minister named other districts with their uncollected cards in brackets as Urban (485); Magharibi A (3,808); Magharibi B (3,727); Central (1,976); South (768); North A (1,621); and North B (1,711).

The legislator decried unnecessary red tape in the issuance of the cards, charging that many Zanzibaris were being denied their right to possess the cards.

But Minister Masoud defended the Zanzibar Civil Status Registration Agency (ZCSRA), which he said operates as per its service charter, releasing the IDs within two weeks after completion of all procedures. He explained that ZCSRA intends to add a module in its registration system to send messages to ID applicants once the card reaches the point of collection.