My mother is worried she will die a stateless old lady, just imagine...

A fellow scribe, Zephania Ubwani, based in Arusha, and working for this same paper, sent me, three days ago, a note following my Sojourn into the national identity ‘pissing off’ saga as implemented by our very own National Identification Authority (Nida).

And I quote; “What a good Sojourner piece today! I am not sure if key decision makers ever read papers.

“You said exactly that it was Nida who would have requested for the extension of sim-card registration, not JPM (Magufuli).

He went on; “It looks Nida have a secret agenda. They have been evasive whenever pressed to avail the IDs. Even Home (Affairs) minister, when pressed in Bunge, just talked of the serial numbers, rather than what delays the actual cards.”

The scribe went on to cite his case; that he registered on April 14, 2018 and was promised that his ID will be available in one month. Six months down the line, it was not there.

He registered again as an emergency case, on October 20, and was promised the card will be available in three weeks time. And I quote; “Recent visit to their offices indicate both are not ready.”

Ubwani went on to mourn about this sorry state of affairs saying it is gravelly impacting other businesses including Brella, Immigration, TRA, TCCIA, and many others.

He should also have added that soon to be included in the affected businesses are mobile phone companies and services, in light of the sim-card saga.

Now it happens that soon after that Sojourner piece and Ubwani’s laments, I paid a quick visit to my ailing 85 year-old mum in one of the villages in Benaland, Njombe Region.

My professional curiosity drove me to ask her about her national ID registration experience. Mark you, notwithstanding her advanced age, she is an avid user of mobile telephone services, and in particular her most favourite, M-pesa -- she is a prominent beneficiary of M-pesa.

She vividly recalled having registered for the same more than a year ago and being promised to receive her card in less than three months time. She was confident that would be the case, afterall she was even given priority in the registration process on account of her advanced age.

Now, she laments, she is a very worried old lady. She has sent several emissaries to the Ward Executive Office, where she registered, to enquire about her card. “Not yet ready!” has always been the answer. She, however, thanks President Magufuli for having extended the deadline to secure the card from May to end of December.

But she is still very worried and her blood pressure is dangerously shooting up. She believes, and the way things are, that come December, there will still be no card for her and many others. Subsequently she will not be able to use and access her mobile phone services inluding her favourite Mpesa.

This, she says, will surely condemn her to an ‘early’ death. And much worse she is very worried that she will die a ‘stateless’ old lady.

What a tragic end!