The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) in hot soup after one of the blogs indicated that they are going to charge UGX 40,000 from people requiring renewing their expired National Identity Cards (IDs) and UGX 200,000 for those who lost their IDs.
Many Ugandans oppose the charges arguing that it should be free of charge since they pay taxes to the State and its obligation is to render such services at no cost.
Political agitators have also vehemently opposed the charges on grounds that government through parliament allocated funds for that exercise like it did 10 years ago when it was first introduced.
The Democratic Party acting spokesperson Juma Kirya while addressing reporters at the party offices in Kampala on February 6, 2024 said that NIRA asked government a total of UGX 340 billion and parliament allocated to it such amount of money and he was surprised to hear that they are going to charge fees for the exercise.
“ The renewal of National IDs should be for free to all Ugandans because government has already allocated funds to a tune of UGX 34O billion.’’ Kirya said.
He also urged government to put NIRA under the supervision of ministry of internal affairs which he commended for proper and efficient handling of the issuance of Passports saying that the ministry has made it very difficult for non-Ugandans to acquire the national passport.
“The matter of acquisition of a National ID should be looked at critically because foreign nationals have accessed it easily due to the loopholes in the NIRA system where foreigners acquire LC I letters easily and reccommadions from security officers like DISOs.’’ Kirya cautioned.
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) spokesperson John Kikonyogo also refuted the need for NIRA to charge fees. He asked parliament to intervene into the matter of National identity renewal slated to occur between June and August 2025.
Kikonyogo like his DP counterpart Juma Kirya spoke at the same wave length arguing that the expiration of national dates should be removed and leave it open because one’s citizenship can’t expire.
“ It is very disturbing to us as leaders to see parliament still remaining adamant on such pertinent issue up to now, on picking interest and guide on how the exercise of renewing the National Identifications should be handled. It’s is even lawful to give Ugandans Identity cards with an expiry date.’’ Kikonyogo stated.
While addressing reporters at Police headquarters in a joint weekly press conference on February 5th , 2024, NIRA spokesperson Osborn Mushabe refuted the allegations that his organization is planning to charge fees for the renewal of IDs.
By George Bukenya