MPs grill NIRA boss over extortion by officials

By Francis Lubega

21^st May 2019

Uganda’s identification and registration Authority has been questioned as to why they charge Ugandans who are applying for national ID cards.

The committee members grilled a team from National Identification Regulatory Authority (NIRA) lead by the Executive Director Judy Obitre who were appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) to explain about the Auditor General’s report of 2017/18 that accused his officials of charging each Ugandans 100.000shs to process and acquire national identification cards.

Several complaints have been reported from different parts of the country like Masaka and Kampala where people failed to apply for the National IDs after objecting to the demands for bribes by the registration officers.

Meanwhile the ED NIRA Obitre said they are working together with police especially the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate and arrest the culprits once found.

In early March this year, NIRA embarked on the second phase of registration for people who missed the initial phase in 2015. The residual registration process is being conducted at sub-counties and division headquarters across the country.