In 2017, Uganda required a national ID for mobile-phone SIM re-registration, concentrating demand at National Identification and Registration Authority offices. The government-linked New Vision reported long queues and chaos during the last-minute rush and described additional centres being equipped for registration and card collection. The ID was also a gateway to passports, finance and other services.
People were not waiting only for a card. They were waiting for the many ordinary procedures that the card allowed them to begin. When one administrative counter stalled, time stopped elsewhere in their lives as well. That chain of dependencies gave the national-registration queue its length.