Ministry Plans to Issue 30m National IDs in Six Months

The Ministry of Peace announced its plans to register and issue national identification cards to 30 million citizens over the coming six months. Muferiat Kemil, minister of Peace, made the statement during a discussion with the executives of commercial banks, for whom the ID cards would play a vital role in bookkeeping and enforcing know your customer (KYC) rules. Ethiopia has been attempting to implement a national identification card programme for over a decade, but to no avail. The national ID has is an invaluable tool for governments to track and easily identify citizens mainly for the purposes of taxation, healthcare, and work.